Down with the Sickness
by floug977
Summary: Booth gets sick, and Bones has to help him, but his sickness leads to a secret Booth has kept for many many years. Summary's not too good, but the story is read and review please! UPDATED!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: IMPORTANT! For all of those who read my story Breathe, I've tried many times to start the sequel, but I'm have a very hard time getting started, so if anyone has any ideas as to how you want that story to start out, please let me know. This is another story I started awhile ago, and I pretty much forgot about it. This story is not very well planned out, so it's pretty much going by whatever pops into my head from day to day. Also, I had another idea that for every episode of Bones I would add on an extended scene somewhere in the episode or at the end of each episode. Let me know how many of you would be interested in that. And I had another idea about a certain favorite episode of mine (the Las Vegas undercover episode) and I got the idea from an episode of Friends where Ross and Rachel get married and I thought, what if Booth and Brennan got married in Vegas, one of them knew it but kept it a secret and no one ever found out about it! If anyone's interested in that, let me know! Okay, so please read and review this story for now until I can get the other projects rolling! Thanks so much!!!!! ENJOY!!!!

Chapter 1:

Booth walked into the Jeffersonian slowly. He hadn't been feeling well since their most recent case. He hadn't felt well throughout the month they had spent investigating the murder, but he had so much adrenaline rushing through him that he barely noticed. And no one else noticed either, which he was grateful for.

He hadn't stepped foot in the Jeffersonian in a week, but during that week, his health had deteriorated significantly. He knew Brennan would notice because he knew that he looked so far from normal that anyone could notice with or without a doctorate.

He felt a pain and stopped in his stride to lean against a door frame, trying to catch his breath quickly.

"Hey Booth," he heard a familiar voice from behind him that made him jump, turning to face the voice.

"Hey Hodgins, what's up?" Booth asked, putting on a fake smile. Thankfully, Hodgins had his face buried in a file and didn't notice the sweat forming on Booth's brow.

"Yeah dude," Hodgins replied, still focused on the file, not paying anymore attention to Booth as he walked away.

Booth was about to lean back against the paneling when he saw Brennan out the corner of his eye. He straightened up quickly before she could notice anything was amiss.

"Booth, do we have a case?" she asked, getting excited.

"Um yeah Bones. Here," he said tossing her his keys.

"You're letting me drive?" she asked surprised as he nodded. "Why? Is your back hurting you again?" she asked, noticing his semi-hunched stance.

"Yeah, a little," he lied. "Look, just don't get used to it," he said as he followed her out to the car.

What Booth didn't tell her was that there was a lot more to his back problems than meets the eye.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once they made it back to the Jeffersonian after leaving the crime scene, Brennan finally broke the silence before Booth had a chance to escape out of the car.

"Okay. What is wrong?" she asked turning to him. When he wouldn't look her in the eye, she knew something was definitely bothering him.

"Nothing. My back just hurts, okay? Let's get to work," he said and made a move to open the door.

"You're lying to me. I know I'm not as successful as Sweets in determining whether someone is being truthful or not, but I know when you're lying to me, Booth."

"Bones, lets just drop it and do our job," he said, and he saw the hurt etched in her facial features.

"What did I do, Booth? Did I do something to offend you? Because if I did, I'm sorry," she said sincerely and Booth's stern face softened.

"I'm sorry, Bones. You didn't do anything to offend me. I'm just not feeling too well."

"Maybe you should go home. We can handle the examination," she said, noticing his pale complexion.

"No, I'm fine. Let's just go," he said and finally made the move to get out of the car, pulling on the handle.

Minutes later, they were all standing around the newly discovered body, and Brennan kept glancing at Booth. She saw him taking shallow breaths and leaning on an examination table to support his weight. Once everyone dissipated to perform their tests, Brennan went and grabbed a hold of Booth and forced him to sit on the platform steps.

"Bones, what are you doing?" he asked defensively, yet allowing her to push him to the stairs.

"What is going on? You can't stand up straight, you keep perspiring, and you can't even support yourself. What is wrong?" she demanded, and he turned to see the concern in her eyes.

He kept his eyes locked on hers until he broke down and showed her his true vulnerability.

"I just have the flu, Bones. I thought I'd be able to handle it, but I guess I'm sicker than I thought," he admitted looking at her again.

"I want you to go home and take care of yourself. You're no good to us sick," she said honestly and he knew that she didn't mean to be offensive. She meant it in her own way. It was her way of showing that she cared.

"I don't know if I'll be able to drive myself home," he admitted, and Brennan saw the physical effect the illness had taken on Booth. He looked miserable.

"I'll take you," she offered and helped him stand, leading him to the car.

The ride to his apartment was silent, and as Brennan drove she kept glancing at him in the passenger seat. His head leaning against the window, eyes closed, yet she knew he wasn't asleep. Never before had she seen Seeley Booth, the big, tough, and strapping FBI guy this sick and miserable before. In fact, she had _never _seen Booth sick. She'd never seen him so much as have a cold. If he wasn't feeling well, he never let on about it, and never used it as an excuse at work. Now, he was stricken with a bad case of the flu. She looked at him, concern in her gaze, yet she didn't know what to do for him. Booth had lived alone and taken care of himself for more than 20 years. He was so independent when it came to his health. Even if she wanted to take care of him, he would never let her. And vise versa, except Booth always wanted to stay and take care of her when she needed it.

They arrived at his apartment, and she moved to help him out of the car. He walked out slowly, looking physically drained. As he was about to collapse, she grabbed a hold of him and held on tightly. She thought about sitting him down on the curb, but he hurried to the side of the building. Brennan reached for him again and felt his forehead. He didn't even stop her.

"You're burning," she said, "Of course not literally because human combustion is impossible."

"I told you Bones, it's just the flu. As soon as I get upstairs I'll pop some Tylenol, okay?" he asked.

"Maybe I should stay with you," she suggested as she wrapped her arm around him and she was surprised when Booth shifted most of his weight on her.

"No, I'll be fine once I get some rest," he said.

Brennan was satisfied for the moment as she made her way inside the building. She managed to get Booth to the elevator and up to his floor without falling under Booth's weight. Getting into his apartment was a hassle. Since she had made a comment about his hiding place for his spare key, he had since removed the spare key completely, causing Brennan to go searching through his pocket, although the dozing Booth didn't even seem to notice.

She finally found his keys and proceeded to unlock the door, literally carrying Booth in. for awhile, she debated driving him to a doctor, but she figured he wouldn't appreciate that very much and maybe the best thing for him was sleep.

As soon as Brennan got Booth into his bedroom, he collapsed in a heap onto the bed. He was still conscious, but on the verge of sleep. Brennan saw there was no way she was going to get Booth under the covers, so she saw a blanket on the end of the bed that she grabbed, also grabbing the blanket off the couch, and wrapping both around Booth tightly. Then she looked in his bathroom for some Tylenol and didn't find any. She walked back to Booth and shook him gently.

"Booth. Booth," she whispered until he opened his eyes slowly.

"Bones?" he asked. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"I brought you home, don't you remember?" she asked, worried.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I remember," he said smiling and beginning to laugh.

"Booth, where is your Tylenol?" she asked slowly and gently.

"Tylenol? Um," he said and it looked like he was thinking hard to remember, "the kitchen cabinet," he said pointing in the general direction of the kitchen.

"Bones?" he asked, his words slurring slightly and she turned back around to face him. "I love you."

She was startled slightly, but figured he was slightly delirious given his high fever. She hurried into the kitchen and began the search for the Tylenol. It took her a few minutes to find it and then she filled a glass full of water. She found Booth when he awoke and found a paper and pen to write him a note.

In Brennan's neat script she wrote,

_You should take the Tylenol every 4-6 hours and get as much sleep as possible. And be sure to stay in bed under the covers to break the fever. I will be back later tonight with some soup. –Bones_

She left the note next to the glass of water where she was sure he would see it. She stood up from where she was kneeling quietly and glanced down at Booth. Although he was really sick, he looked so peaceful as he slept. She couldn't help herself as she brought her hand up and ran it through his hair. Then she didn't something she never expected. She leaned down and kissed Booth on the forehead, lingering slightly as she whispered, "I know I told you that love is illogical and very impossible, but … I do love you Booth. Feel better."

Kissing his forehead once more, she took one last look at him and silently slipped out of the apartment, heading back to the Jeffersonian.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay so I didn't get nearly as many reviews as I had hoped. Thank you to those of you who did review, but a lot of you added the story to your alerts, lets turn those into reviews, shall we? I hate begging, but they're so nice. Anyway, here is chapter 2 and it's a little bit different. The past are in Italics, and there's not too much dialogue in the beginning, but it gets better, I promise. Please review, I hope to get at least 20 for this chapter, so get reviewing! Thanks all! ENJOY!

Chapter 2:

Brennan worked as fast as she could through the rest of her day. She wanted to check on Booth. She had called his cell several times but he never answered. She figured he was still asleep, but she was worried nonetheless. She just kept thinking she never should have left him alone, but at the time she felt the case was more important.

She walked briskly through the Jeffersonian to Cam's office.

"Cam, I'm leaving early. I just wanted to let you know," Brennan said and was gone before Cam could muster a reply.

"Ooookay," she said to empty air, turning back to her work.

Brennan made a quick stop at the diner and picked up a bowl of Booth's favorite soup and a piece of pie in case he was feeling better.

She hurried to Booth's, trying her best not to break any traffic laws. After what seemed like an eternity, she arrived at Booth's apartment. As soon as she opened the door, she tiptoed in quietly, not to wake him. She set the soup down on his small kitchen table and when she turned toward the bedroom, the sight in front of her scared her more than anything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Booth moaned as he began to stir from his sleep. When his eyes finally opened, his vision was blurry, to the point where he couldn't make out the digital numbers of the clock. He tried sitting up but was met with a pounding in his head. He laid back down and felt how wet his bed was. His sheets were covered in his own sweat, as well as his shirt and his sweatpants, and the pounding continued. He opened his eyes again but this time, he was met with nausea. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he swung his legs over the side of the bed in one quick motion. _

_He felt his feet hit the cold floor and he took a deep breath. He needed to get up and to move, but the whole apartment was enclosed in darkness, and he knew the light would only make his headache worse. He figured he had lived in this apartment for a few years, he knew the layout like the back of his hand._

_He slowly stood up, grabbing the nightstand for support. When he felt he could walk, he took a few steps, but once he made it to his living room, the pounding in his head got worse and he could feel himself losing consciousness. He tried gripping the wall for support, and thought, maybe make it to the couch before he passed out, but it was too late._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brennan woke and wasn't quite sure where she was, and then she remembered the events of the previous night.

_Brennan quickly grabbed the phone and dialed 911. She leaned next to Booth and felt his head. He was soaked in sweat, and not just a normal sweat, but a significant amount of perspiration from all over his body. His forehead felt so hot against her hand. She leaned down to his nose and determined that his breathing was shallow._

"_911, what is your emergency?" an operator answered._

"_I need an ambulance to 715 Stone Street, Apartment 17. My partner is unconscious and he's having trouble breathing."_

"_Ma'am, please stay calm. I'll send an ambulance out right away. What other information can you give me?"_

"_Earlier today he was running a very high fever, but I left him and now he's soaked in sweat and his fever is really high."_

"_Do you know how high?"  
_

"_I would estimate around 105. Please, hurry," Brennan pleaded._

"_Please, just stay on the line with me until the ambulance gets there."_

_Brennan remained silent until she heard sirens in the distance. She told the operator that they had arrived and immediately hung up the phone, focusing on Booth once more._

_She leaned down to his ear and whispered, "You're going to be okay, Booth. I'm right here."_

_She held his head in her lap and called to the paramedics when they reached the apartment. They immediately pushed her aside and she watched as they began working on Booth. She felt tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall as she watched them put him onto a stretcher._

_She couldn't focus on anything they were saying. She just stood there helpless, watching him, hoping that he would be okay._

_They started to wheel him out of the apartment and down to the ambulance. She watched as he went into the ambulance and she tried climbing in after him, but strong arms held her back._

"_I'm sorry ma'am, but you're going to have to follow us in your own vehicle."_

_She felt anger and fury well deep inside of her, and she could feel her face turning red._

"_NO! I'm coming with him! I'm not leaving this time. Please, I need to stay with him," she pleaded as the first tears fell onto her cheeks._

_She saw the medic's empathy for her and he let her climb in. She had barely sat down before they sped off. She immediately reached for Booth's hand and held it tightly. It was then she really let her tears fall. She needed him to be okay. She couldn't go through losing him again; it would be too much for her to bear. She brought Booth's hand up to her cheek and marveled at his touch. She just needed to feel him and it brought her comfort. She had closed her eyes, committing the feel of him to her memory._

_When she heard a grunt coming from the gurney, she looked down and saw Booth had awoken but he hardly seemed lucid._

"_Bones," he whispered, thrashing on the stretcher and the paramedics had to hold him down. Brennan could tell that he was in pain. "Bones!" he said, much louder this time._

"_I'm here Booth," she said and leaned down close to him, leaning her forehead against his. "I'm right here."_

"_Don't leave me," he whispered in a pleading voice that scared her._

"_I won't go anywhere, Booth. I promise I won't leave you," she assured him and she felt him relax his tight grip on her hand._

_The rest of the night was a blur to her. She watched as they wheeled him into the emergency room. She watched the doctors as they worked furiously on Booth. _

_She was taken up to his private room after he endured what seemed like hours and hours of tests. She held his hand and spoke to him as he slept and she eventually let herself succumb to her own slumber._

She looked over at Booth and saw that he was still sleeping peacefully. She massaged her stiff neck before sitting up in the chair and assessing Booth. He looked so much better than he had the day before and she hoped the medicine they had been giving him was working.

Brennan was about to get up and get some coffee when she noticed Booth looking back at her.

"Booth, you're awake," she smiled and hurried to his side.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.

"I was walking into the Jeffersonian. What happened?"

"You were really sick, I took you home. You fell right to sleep; your fever was really high. I went back to work, and when I came back last night I found you passed out on the floor."

"Oh," he said, "so where am I?" he asked, not quite sure he had understood her fully.

"I called an ambulance. You're in the hospital."

"Oh," he said and turned away from her. "Well, I feel much better, let's go," Booth said and began to get out of bed.

Brennan looked at him, not believing what he had just said. "Where are you going?"

"We've got a case, right?" he asked her and she nodded. "So, let's go solve a murder," he said and ripped out his IV.

Brennan just stood there staring at him, her mouth agape she couldn't believe he was doing this. "Booth, NO. You can't leave. We didn't even get your test results back yet, you can't go anywhere."

"Bones, really, I feel much better. Can we just go please?" he said, getting his clothes out from under the hospital bed. "You know how much I hate hospitals."

She walked to where he was and stopped him. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back onto the bed. "Get back in this bed. Right. Now," she said with a threatening tone.

"Wow, Bones, you can be really scary," Booth said as he got back into bed.

"Listen to me. Yesterday you were on the bridge of death; you can't just magically feel better."

"Brink of death, Bones," Booth interrupted her.

"Whatever. Yesterday you couldn't even move. You're fever was over 105. Something is wrong, Booth."

"Bones, I'm telling you, it was just the flu. I didn't take any medicine for it, and it just made it worse," he said, grabbing her hand. "I feel much better now, I really do."

"Well, can we at least wait here until we get the test results back?" she asked, knowing it would make her feel a lot better knowing that he was actually medically better.

"Sure," he said and leaned back on the bed.

"Oh you're bleeding," Brennan said and put pressure on his arm where he had pulled out his IV. "You really shouldn't have done that."

"Sorry, do you know how to put it back in?" he asked her, giving her his puppy dog eyes that made her completely fall for him.

"I do, but I learned a long time ago. I don't want to hurt you."

"You could never hurt me," Booth said as he watched her put the needle back in successfully. Wow, that was amazing, I didn't even feel it," he said smiling at her. "Thanks Bones."

She went back around and sat down on the chair she had occupied the entire night.

"So tell me about this case that we have? Did you do an examination already?"

"We didn't learn much. I can't determine a cause of death, and Hodgins is having a hard time with time of death."

"So, nothing?" Booth asked. He knew she hated it when they were completely lost on a case. There was no evidence to suggest anything, and she hated speculation so she had nothing to go on.

"Nothing."

"Well, why don't you go back to the lab? I'm okay here," he said to her and she looked skeptical.

"Are you going to try to escape again?" she asked him.

"No, I promise. I'll wait for my test results, I want you to get me some facts," he said smiling at her and he knew she couldn't resist.

"Okay, but will you call me when you find out what's wrong?" she asked him, grabbing her coat and making her way over to him.

"Promise," he said.

"Okay," she said and leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'll be back later, hopefully with some information."

"Looking forward to it," he said.

"Oh, and don't use your charm smile one me," she said to me, "it doesn't work."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself that, Bones. I know you can't resist my charm," he said and smiled at her again.

She shook her head at him and he watched as she left.

He couldn't stand being in the hospital, and he wanted to leave badly, but he had made a promise to Bones, and he couldn't stand lying to her, so he sat there until the doctor came into his room, and somehow Booth already knew what he was going to say.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is a longer chapter where we find out what's wrong with Booth, and some of you might be concerned about character death, but never fear Booth will not die, I will tell you that for sure. As for those of you who reviewed, that you very much, we're getting better. Thank you all for reading, it means a lot that you all like the story. This chapter again has a cliffhanger, so I should be updating tomorrow sometime. Hope you all enjoy and lets try to hit at least 30-40 reviews, deal? ENJOY!

Chapter 3:

Booth listened as the doctor spoke to him, but they were things he already knew. He had heard all of this before. All of the information the doctor was giving him he remembered well. He knew this was going to happen, but he just couldn't believe it. The reality was now hitting Booth, and he sat there and after the doctor left he cried. The doctor had given him a list of his options, but he didn't know what to do. He needed to talk to Brennan, but he didn't know what to say.

He was silent as the nurse came in with his discharge paperwork and he signed them knowing that he would be back in the hospital again in a matter of days, weeks, maybe months. He hoped he would never have to be back in the hospital.

He went home and took a shower, looking for signs. Signs that it was back. That was when he saw it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brennan was standing on the platform when she heard Booth calling to her.

"Booth, I thought you were going to call me," she said, a little angry as she looked at him.

"Sorry, I was just really excited they let me go," he said. "What do we got?" he asked, clapping his hands together.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"What's going on?" Angela asked finally after watching what was unfolding.

"Everything is fine, okay? I'm fine," Booth said.

"Booth was really sick yesterday. Like in the hospital and dying sick."

"Bones…" Booth scolded.

"Oh my God," Angela said.

"I'm fine, really, I promise. Would they have let me go if I wasn't fine?" Booth asked. The girls just turned and looked at each other and wouldn't meet his eyes. "Exactly, thank you, now can we please get to work?"

Brennan updated Booth on the case and she noticed that he was very distracted, like his mind was on something totally different.

"Booth did you hear what I said?" Brennan asked, shaking him.

"Sorry, Bones, what did you say?" he asked, and that was when she had enough. She grabbed his arm and dragged him off the platform to her office.

"Ow, Bones come on. Can you loosen the grip please?" Booth asked, wrenching his arm from her tight grasp.

Brennan shut the door to her office and faced him. He had never seen her more angry and concerned at the same time.

"Bones?" he asked.

"What is wrong? I'm so tired of you leaving me out here, Booth. Do you not trust me?" she asked.

"Of course I trust you," Booth said.

"Then tell me what's going on. You say you're fine and then you're completely distracted. You're never like that."

"I'm sorry. I just…I've been thinking about other things," he said as he sat down on her couch, leaving her standing there, confused.

"Like what things?" she asked, sitting across from him, and she knew something was wrong when he wouldn't look her in the eye. "Booth? What?"

"I have cancer, Bones. Well, I had cancer. It's kinda complicated," he said, still not looking at her.

Brennan sat back and a gasp escaped from her mouth. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. "What?"

"I relapsed. No one ever knew it was such a long time ago. Do you remember that day when I had to take off and I said it was because Parker had a play at school?"

"Yes," Brennan answered.

"That was when the symptoms first started, and I just knew that it came back. The symptoms come and go. Yesterday was one of those days. One day you're sick and the next you're completely fine."

"Oh my God," Brennan said.

"You okay, Bones?" he asked and when he finally looked her in the eyes she had tears in them.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was diagnosed when I was 17, we did some treatments, and everything was fine. I went into remission. I was cancer free. Until now."

"Were you even going to tell me? If I hadn't just brought you in here and made you tell me, would you have ever told me?" she asked.

He shook his head, thinking, "I don't know."

Brennan stood up angry and started to storm off, but he caught her arm before she could get away.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you all right, but no one ever used to know. I didn't want anyone to know, that way they would never feel sorry for me."

"Let go of me," Brennan said and grabbed her arm back.

"I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know how to say it. You're my best friend, Temperance," he called out to her as she stood in the doorway.

"Just give me time to think," Brennan said and she walked away.

Booth sat back down on the couch and let out a breath. He never meant to hurt her, but he didn't think that she would really care. He thought that she'd give him some sort of lesson on cancer and try to find a way to cure him, not react with anger.

He sat there thinking about what to do next when he saw Brennan sit back down in front of him, and he smiled at her and his grin grew when she smiled back.

"What did the doctors say?" she asked.

"They want to do a biopsy. I should've gone to the doctor awhile ago, when I started experiencing the symptoms, but I guess I just didn't want to go through it all again, especially go through it alone."

"You're not alone," she said, grabbing one of his hands and holding on to it.

"I haven't really decided what to do yet. I knew it was back with the symptoms, but I never saw any swollen nodes or anything. Until I got home from the hospital and took a shower."

"Well, you should have it biopsied," Brennan said gently, knowing that biopsies were painful.

"Will you come with me… if I decide to do this?" Booth asked.

"Yes. Of course I will," she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"I don't want to tell anyone else though. Not yet," Booth said.

"Okay, but you have to promise me something."

"What?" he asked.

"That if you're ever feeling bad again…like yesterday, you let me take care of you."

"Bones…I hate being taken care of. It's nothing I can't handle," Booth said.

"Oh really? You mean, when I found you passed out on the floor yesterday, you seemed like you were in complete control."

"Hm…yeah. Okay, I promise," Booth said. "Are you ready to go solve that murder?"

"Are you going to pay attention this time?" she asked.

"Yes, let's go," he said and he put his arm around her as they left her office.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ TWO DAYS LATER

"Booth! Where are you? We have to get going!" Brennan said as she walked into Booth's apartment.

"I'm coming," she heard his voice coming from the bedroom.

"What are you doing?" she asked as stood in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Oh, changing the sheets. Night sweats are a symptom. I seem to have them every night," he said as he continued taking the sheets off his bed.

"Sorry," she said as she could see his good mood diminished.

"It's okay. I'm getting kinda used to it by now," he said as he smiled at her.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked. "I'm driving."

"Oh well, in that case, I'm not going," he said.

"What? You have to go, you know that, and I am a very good driver," she defended herself.

"Yeah, I know Bones, but it just feels like I'm losing your manhood."

"You're manhood? It's a car. Women drive all the time, Booth," she said.

"Well, it's a man's job to drive, it's like a tradition."

"Well, I don't believe in tradition. Society is meant to evolve over time, not partake in archaic traditions," she said as she walked over to Booth and helped him with the sheets on his bed.

"Okay whatever, let's not fight today," Booth said.

"We're not fighting, we're just…" she started but Booth looked to her and she stopped, "yeah, okay, no fighting."

"Thank you, and I'm still driving."

"Ugh, but you're not supposed to drive. Isn't that on the list of things you can't do before surgery?" she asked.

Booth smiled triumphantly and said, "Nope, that's after the surgery. There's nothing about that before the surgery."

"I will make a pact with you," she said.

"Pact? What's that?" he asked, confused as he fixed the pillows on his bed.

"I will let you drive to the hospital as long as I drive you home," she said.

"Deal," he said and smiled at her as he grabbed the things he needed for the hospital and they made their way out of the apartment.

The ride to the hospital was silent, and Brennan could tell Booth was deep in thought. She figured he was just nervous about the procedure, anyone would be. He got very quiet when he was nervous, and she decided to let him be alone with his thoughts until they were settled in at the hospital.

Booth checked himself him and they were taken to a private room where Booth changed and the nurse started an IV for him, to make him a little more comfortable.

Brennan sat beside the bed the entire time, not saying anything, but taking it all in. His illness wasn't hard for her to process, but now it seemed to be so much more real. She was seeing Booth at his most vulnerable. He was such a big strong person that she would never expect cancer to attack his body.

The night before she had researched Hodgkin's Disease more in depth, she didn't have a lot of knowledge about the disease, and she wanted to know more about it. She knew that it was a cancer of the lymph nodes and that it is common in younger people, which made sense that Booth got sick when he was 17. Remission is common, but not until later in life. She learned that the disease is highly treatable, more than 90% survival rate, but what was unclear to her was what stage Booth's cancer was in, and that could only be known through the biopsy. She figured out that Booth probably had a more serious form since he was showing symptoms, which were known as B symptoms (fever, night sweats). These symptoms are also in more severe cases, but she didn't tell Booth that, she wanted him to remain optimistic.

Booth settled back against the pillows and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Brennan asked him. "Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay, thanks, Bones," he said and smiled at her.

"Sure."

There was again silence in the room and Booth started to twiddle his thumbs.

"Could you not do that, it's making me nervous," Brennan said and he stopped.

"Sorry," Booth said and tried placing his hands somewhere else.

After a few more moments of silence, Brennan finally asked Booth about what was on her mind.

"Are you scared?" she asked.

"Yes. I don't if that's because I already know or because I don't know what comes next," he answered.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Booth," she said sadly.

"I'm just glad you're here," he said and he reached for her hand and she gladly let him take it.

"I'm glad you asked me," she said.

"Bones, you know I'm not going to be the same after this. I mean, I'm going to have to go through treatments. I know it's bad," he said.

"Don't talk like that," she said, "you can't know anything until we get the tests back. We'll focus on the facts then."

He chuckled and nodded. "What?" she asked confused, laughing along with him.

They then got into a fit of giggle and couldn't stop laughing.

"Why are we laughing?" she asked him.

"I don't know. Sure beats crying though," he said as their fits of laughter died down.

"Yeah it does," Brennan said.

It was at that moment that the doctor came in and started to prep Booth for the procedure and told him what he could expect and the side effects afterward.

"You ready?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah, she can come right?" Booth asked.

"We don't let family members in the room during the procedure," the doctor said.

"It's okay Booth, I'll just wait in the waiting room," she said as grabbed her things to leave.

"No, she's a doctor. She can stay," Booth said. "I really want her here doc or I won't do it."

The doctor frowned at Booth and reluctantly agreed. "Fine, she can stay. A nurse will give you some scrubs and you can stay," the doctor said and left the room to get the nurse.

The nurse came in, handing the scrubs to Brennan and she changed in the bathroom. She came out and noticed that everything was set up for the biopsy. Booth laid there, looking scared and she hurried to his side and grabbed his hand, letting him know that she was there and that he wasn't alone.

"Okay," the doctor said, "here we go."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay so, just so you all know I've done some research on everything and it's pretty accurate. If it's not, I apologize. This chapter also might be hard to read, so that's just a warning. Also, I have posted chapter 3 and the story didn't rotate to the top of the updates so make sure you read chapter 3 before 4 it makes more sense that way. Thanks for reading and please REVIEW! They're needed. ENJOY!

Chapter 4:

Booth looked up at Brennan, and away from where the doctor was going to insert the needle into his neck. The doctor had used a little local anesthetic, but Booth knew he was going to feel it. He gripped Brennan's hand and she smiled down at him and she watched as the needle went in.

Booth grimaced and closed his eyes tightly, and Brennan turned back to him. She hated to see him in pain, and although she was a scientist she didn't want to be interested in this. She heard Booth groan as she saw the needle go in deeper out of the corner of her eye. She took her other hand and started massaging his arm. She was there to comfort him. She knew biopsies were painful, and although Booth had been tortured a few too many times, he shouldn't have to go through any more pain.

"Just a few more minutes," the doctor said to Booth and he finally opened his eyes.

"Bones, would you talk to me? You know, get my mind off of this?" he asked her.

"Booth, you know I'm a terrible conversationalist," she said.

"Bones, please, just talk about anything. Teach me about something, you're a great teacher."

"Okay, um…would you like to learn about molecular DNA testing?" she asked him and she saw a bored look on his face.

"All right let's talk about something else. How about pie?" he asked.

"Pie is your favorite subject, not mine," she said to him. "I don't know anything about pie."

"Ah, maybe I should educate you," Booth said.

"No. The weatherman said it's supposed to rain for the next week," Brennan pointed out after thinking of a topic.

"That's great," Booth said sarcastically.

"I don't see what's great about that, Booth. Granted, we need the rain, but if we get any cases, it could be very messy. Have you ever recovered a body while it was raining?"

"Come to think of it, no," he said.

"Exactly," Brennan said.

They spoke quietly for the rest of the biopsy until the doctor said, "All finished. We'll send this off to the lab and we should receive the results within a day or two. The nurse will apply a bandage and then you can go home."

"Good," Booth said.

"Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?" Brennan asked him as the doctor left the room.

"No, not with you here," he said as the nurse applied pressure to his neck and but a bandage on for me.

"Good," Brennan said as the nurse left.

"What do I do now?" Booth asked, laughing since they were left alone.

"I guess you get dressed and we can leave. Are you hungry? We could stop off at the diner and get some pie," she said as Booth sat up and Brennan handed him his clothing.

"That sounds absolutely delicious right now," Booth said as he got up and walked into the bathroom.

The doctor took that moment to walk back into the room and said, "Oh Ms. Brennan…"

"Dr. Brennan," she pointed out.

"Sorry Dr. Brennan, I'd like to go over some things with Agent Booth when he's finished changing."

"Okay," she said, "he'll be out in a minute. Dr., how bad do you think it is?" she asked bluntly. "Sorry to be so frank, but I have to know."

"It could be very bad, but with treatments there is a very high survival rate, he should be just fine," the doctor told her.

The doctor saw the concern and fear in her expression and tried reassuring her, "Agent Booth is very strong. He's been through this before, and he was fine. He can do it again."

"Thank you," Brennan said, shaking the doctor's hand as Booth walked out.

"Hey doc, I can go right?" Booth asked.

"Absolutely, I just wanted to go over some things with you. You may experience some pain and swelling near the injection site over the next couple of days, don't be alarmed. If it causes discomfort, you can take some Ibuprofen. If the pain persists for more than a few days, I want you to come back in. We should know the results within the next couple of days, and we'll give you a call."

"Thanks doc," Booth said as he shook the doctor's hand.

"You're welcome. Have a nice day."

"Come on Bones, let's go to the diner, I'm starving," Booth said.

"You're always hungry Booth. Do you ever not eat?" she asked.

"Yes," Booth said as he grabbed her arm and led her out of the room. "And I'm driving."

"Booth, you just had local anesthesia, you can't drive," she pointed out.

"The doctor didn't tell me I couldn't, so I'm driving," he said as he reached for the keys out of her coat pocket.

"Hey!" she said, grabbing for the keys, but he held them out of reach.

"We made a deal that I would drive on the way back. Aren't you a woman of your word?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said, defeated. "Fine, you can drive."

"Don't be sad, Bones. Would it make you feel better if I told you that you're a good driver?" he asked, putting his arm around her.

"Maybe," she answered as they reached the car and they got in.

"What if I said that you could drive a couple times a week?" he asked and her face brightened up.

"5 times a week."

"2."

"4," Brennan said and Booth looked at her. "3," she tried.

"Deal," Booth said and started the car as Brennan smiled to herself.

They drove to the diner in silence, and when they were seated, Booth decided to bring up a serious conversation, which needless to say Brennan didn't care for.

"Bones, I need to talk to you about something," Booth said as she popped a fry into her mouth.

"What?"

"Something serious," he said and she could tell he was really serious and given what they were about to talk about great thought.

"Okay," Brennan said as she put a fry back down on her plate and put all of her attention on him.

"Do you promise not to freak out?" he asked.

"Yes," Brennan said.

"I decided that I'm going to make a will," he said and watched her expression change. "Don't freak out."

"I'm not," Brennan said taking a few deep breaths.

"You okay?" Booth asked after a few seconds to let her calm down.

"Yes, continue."

"Bones, I want you to make all of my medical decisions. I mean, if I'm not able to, and I want you to be able to see Parker."

"Booth, you might not be able to …" Brennan started but Booth cut her off.

"I don't care, I'll talk to Rebecca. Parker needs to hear good things about his father. Rebecca won't do that. I know you will, and I want you to teach him things like science."

"I don't want to discuss this with you," Brennan said as she continued to eat.

"I know I shouldn't rush you, but this is important."

"Not now it's not. We have time to talk about this later. Much later. Let's go," Brennan said as she laid money on the table and stood up.

"Bones," Booth said as he got up to follow her.

She turned toward him and squared her eyes at him, "We're not doing this, Booth. Not here," she turned around and walked out of the diner.

Booth sighed and followed her out of the diner. The rest of the car ride was silent and when Brennan pulled up to Booth's apartment, she stayed in the car, not even looking at Booth, keeping her gaze on the windshield.

"Bones, aren't you coming in?" Booth asked and she turned to look at him. It was then that he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Bones, what's wrong?" he asked as he got back in the car and shut the door.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Will you please go inside, you need your rest."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Booth said.

"Booth…" Brennan warned.

"Fine, we can just sit here until you tell me," Booth said as he sat back in the seat and crossed his arms, looking out the window.

Brennan's tears continued to fall as she continued to compose her thoughts.

"I don't know why you're doing this," Brennan shouted to him.

"Whoa, where did that come from?" Booth asked, surprised.

"We don't even have the test results back and you're acting like you're already dead. I can't take that, Booth. The only way you will be able to beat this is if you're optimistic, and you are clearly not. You think you're the only one affected by this whole thing," Brennan shouted.

"Whoa, hey. What are you talking about?"

"I only found out about this 2 days ago, and I think I've been pretty supportive, but all you care to talk about is how you're going to change and a will."

"That's not true and you know it," Booth argued back.

"Shut. Up. It's not all about you, Booth. I don't want to lose you, but I don't know why you can't just wait to talk about these things until we're sure about your condition."

"Can I talk now?" Booth asked, afraid to say anything, and Brennan nodded. "Thank you. Look, you know me. I like to know that everything is taken care of, despite what my condition is or isn't. I just want to make sure that if anything happens, everyone is taken care of."

"Everyone would be fine, Booth. I just can't stand you talking about yourself as if you're already gone. I don't want to be alone," she admitted as more tears fell.

"I'm sorry, Bones. I shouldn't have brought it up. I didn't mean to hurt you. I wasn't thinking clearly. Will you please come up now?"

"You don't even know why I'm acting like this, do you?" she asked.

"I know you care about me, Bones. Or you wouldn't have come with me today."

"I think it's more than that," Brennan admitted. "I more than just care about you."

"I love you too Bones," Booth said smiling.

"I didn't say anything about love," Brennan said.

"Oh come on. What else could it be?" Booth asked, laughing. "You know you love me, you just have to admit it."

"Love is improbably. It doesn't exist."

"Bones, do you love your father?"

"I don't like the term love. My father cares about me, and he says he loves me, but I don't know what that means."

"Love is special. A spark between two people. Do you know I would give my life for you?"

"You'd give your life for a lot of people, you do everyday," Brennan said.

"Not like that. I mean that if let's say you were offered a position at Harvard, and you were going to take it, I would quit my job to go with you."

"You would do that for me?" Brennan asked.

"Of course I would," Booth said. "I would get another job, obviously, but I would be willing to give up my whole life here for you. Would you do that for me?"

"I believe I would, yes," Brennan said.

"When a person is willing to do whatever it takes to be with that one person, that's love. I love you Bones. More than a friend and a colleague. I want to spend my life with you," Booth said.

"I think I want that too. I've had these feelings for awhile, I just didn't know what they meant," she admitted.

"That's what I'm here for. See, the things that I explain to you are more important."

"What? Not always," Brennan said. "A lot of thing…" she was cut off by the feeling of Booth's lips against hers.

"Okay, yeah your things are definitely more important," she said smiling.

"Can you come upstairs now?" Booth asked.

"Sure," she said.

They made their way up to his apartment and Booth immediately went to the couch.

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

"Very tired," he answered, closing his eyes.

"Well, you rest, I'll just…sit here," Brennan said.

"No, I want to do something," Booth said.

"Like what?" Brennan asked.

"Have you ever played Slap Jack?" he asked her.

"That would be quite impossible. For one thing I would never slap Hodgins and he's also not here right now."

Booth simply laughed at her lack of pop culture.

"What?" she asked, defensively. "Don't make fun of me."

"Okay, I'm sorry. It's a card game, Bones. Here, let me show you. Parker and I play this all the time. What you do is you deal out all of the cards and don't look at them. And then you flip them over one at a time and when you see a jack card you hit it. If it's not a jack you have to place one of your cards over the pile. If you slap it first, you get to keep all of those cards."

"This game seems very childish," Brennan said.

"Thanks, Bones. It's fun, okay? You got it?" he asked as he shuffled the cards.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Get ready, I'll go first and then you can flip a card over."

Booth started the game and it wasn't long before Brennan began to slap all of the jacks, the game lasted all of about 10 minutes.

"How did you win that fast?" Booth asked.

"Well, I have very good reflexes. It wasn't that difficult, it's simple eye/hand coordination," she said.

"Yeah," Booth said as he began putting the cards away.

"Don't you want to play again?" she asked.

"No, I think you've beaten me bad enough. I think I will take that nap," he said lying down.

"Okay."

"Will you be here when I wake up?" he asked, grabbing her hand.

She grabbed the blanket from the nearby chair and slipped onto the couch, draping the blanket around the both of them.

"Of course I will," she answered and he wrapped his arms around her to make sure she wouldn't fall off the couch and he kissed her before they both drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Again to reassure you all, Booth is NOT going to die. I promise, that is not the goal for this story. Sorry it took me a little longer to update this chapter was confusing me, lol. I couldn't decide exactly what I wanted to do with it, but I think it turned out very good. Now, I'm counting on you to review because you guys are going to take control of the story…let me know what you guys want Booth and Brennan to do…meaning ice skating or teaching Brennan how to play baseball, etc. Something you have always wanted to see them do and how you would want them to interact. So please review so I can use your suggestion and I will give you special recognition for your contribution. Okay, enough of this: get reading! ENJOY! And please review!

Chapter 5:

Brennan awoke and wasn't quite sure where she was. Then she remembered that she stayed at Booth's apartment, but fell asleep on his couch. This was definitely not the couch. She rolled over to find herself in Booth's bed. Not remembering how she got there, she turned over and found that Booth wasn't even there. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before standing up and making her way into the living room.

She saw Booth in the kitchen. Cooking. In an apron. She took this opportunity to just stare at him as he sung along to a song on the radio. She chuckled as he began dancing around the kitchen, a wooden spoon as his microphone. She could barely contain her laughter before Booth spun around and saw her standing there.

He quickly went back to stirring the food as she continued laughing and began walking towards him.

"I didn't know you were awake," he said.

"Oh, don't worry. I enjoyed the show," she said as she came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him. "What are you making?"

"I was going to surprise you, but it's your favorite," Booth said.

"I don't have a favorite food," she said.

"Yes, you do," Booth said. "It's Thai. I just went online and found a recipe. I don't know if I'm doing it right though."

Brennan laughed. "How long was I asleep?"

"Awhile, it's almost 7. I figured you would be hungry," Booth said.

"I am. Sorry, I was really tired. I haven't slept very well the last couple of night," she said as she sat down at the table.

"Oh," Booth said, "because of me?"

"Maybe," Brennan answered. "Is the food almost done?"

"Yeah, couple more minutes," Booth said.

"I was scared," Brennan answered. "I don't know why, it was stupid."

"No, it's not. I was scared too," Booth said as he grabbed her hand.

"I'm still scared," Brennan said.

"That makes two of us."

"I just…I don't know how to assure you that everything will be okay when I don't know if everything is going to be okay."

"You're here, that's enough reassurance for me," Booth said. "I decided I'm not going to worry anymore. I may be scared, but I'm not going to think about the results until we get them. Until then, we're going to have fun."

"What do you mean by fun?" Brennan asked, seeing the smirk on Booth's face.

"I don't know, maybe some more ice skating something that I'm better at than you are," Booth laughed.

"Well, I'm not terrible at skating."

"You can't just admit that I'm better at something can you?" Booth asked as he leaned in close to her face, leaning his forehead against hers and she didn't back down.

"I'm very competitive," she said and he brushed his lips against hers. She loved that feeling. The one time they had kissed under the mistletoe she had felt it then but just couldn't admit it to herself let alone Booth.

She felt her body weaken as he brought his hands up to cup her face. She held her grip against his sides.

"You're better at that," Brennan admitted.

"Thank you."

"But maybe next time you should let me cook because it's burning," she said and he quickly turned from her and turned the burner on the stove off and she began laughing at him again.

"It's not funny," he said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"It is," she said, laughing.

Once her laughter died down, he broke the silence. "I haven't heard you laugh like that in awhile."

"I only laugh like that when I'm around you," she said.

"You ready to eat?" he asked her as he scooped some Thai onto two plates.

"Definitely," she said, taking the plate from him and they both enjoyed a quiet dinner between the two of them.

Over the next two days, they did exactly as Booth had suggested. They had fun. Brennan stayed away from the lab and they went ice skating and Booth taught Brennan how to play baseball and football, which was interesting to say the least. They were at the diner when Booth's cell phone began to ring.

Booth looked at Brennan after he recognized the number. She nodded at him, telling him he needed to answer. Booth bit his lip and answered.

"Okay, yeah. That sounds good. We'll be there. Thanks, bye," Booth said and hung up.

"What did he say?" Brennan asked anxiously.

"They have the results. They want me to come in right now."

"Is that good?" Brennan asked.

"No," Booth answered, placing money on the table. Getting up, he placed his hand on the small of her back as they exited the diner.

When they got to the hospital, they were led to the doctor's office and they sat there for around 20 minutes. They were both silent until the doctor sat down.

"Seeley," the doctor said, shaking his hand. "Dr. Brennan."

"Doc," Booth said.

"So, I'm going to be completely blunt with you. We were alarmed with your results. You were right, the cancer has recurred, and your symptoms are concerning me. We're not sure what stage the cancer is at, we'd have to do further tests, but I can already tell you that we're going to start high dose chemotherapy and then we're going to switch to regular chemo treatments. And if we need to, we'll do radiation treatments as well. I do want to do a PET scan to see if the cancer has spread. If it hasn't, that's good news and it's very treatable. Any questions?" the doctor asked.

"No. I've got it. When do we start?" Booth asked.

"I want the PET scan done tomorrow, hopefully we can get treatment started by the end of the week," the doctor said. "The receptionist can schedule you an appointment."

"Okay, thanks," Booth said as he rose and shook the doctor's hand.

"You're welcome," the doctor said.

Booth noticed Brennan didn't stand up. "Bones, are you coming?"

"Um…yeah," she said, slightly stunned. She had heard everything the doctor had said, but it didn't make too much sense to her. She had never extensively researched cancer or its effects before, nor had she ever studied chemotherapy although she knew those effects well enough.

She grabbed Booth's hand as they walked through the hospital more for her comfort than his. Booth walked up to the receptionist and scheduled an appointment for the PET scan. As they made it to the car, Booth drove and said, "There's somewhere I have to go."

"Okay," Brennan said and sat in silence.

Halfway there, Booth broke the silence. "You okay, Bones?"

"Just a little shocked, that's all."

"Oh."

"I don't know anything about cancer or really about chemotherapy," she said.

"You don't need to know. You probably don't want to know," Booth said as he focused on the road.

"Is it going to be bad? For you?" she asked.

"Bad enough that I can't work anymore," he said.

"What?" Brennan asked as they pulled up to the Hoover Building.

"Look, let me do this and we can talk later, I promise."

"I'm coming with you," Brennan said, getting out of the car.

"No Brennan, this is something I have to do by myself," he said. When he slammed the car door, it made her flinch. The diagnosis was as bad as she thought it was. Booth was obviously upset even though he put up a convincing front. Brennan knew how important his job was to him, and to have to quit temporarily was killing him. She remembered when he had been suspended for shooting that clown, and he was miserable then. It was only a couple of days. This was much bigger. He was going to be out of work for awhile, and she knew he wouldn't react to that well. She sat there silently until Booth returned.

"Don't say anything," Booth said as he sat in the driver's seat and he began to cry.

Brennan sat there watching him, taking deep breaths, trying not to cry seeing his pain. She couldn't stand it anymore as she sobbed and took him into her arms. She didn't say anything, she just held him which was exactly what he needed at that moment. She had seldom seen Booth cry, but seeing him now was killing her. She wanted to take on this pain for him, but she knew that was impossible, but at least she could try to make him feel better. She sat there rubbing his back, crying with him. She didn't know how long she sat there holding him, but he eventually pulled away.

"There's somewhere else I have to go too," he said.

"Where's that?" she asked.

"The fertility clinic," he said.

"Why?" she asked and she saw him sigh. "Sorry."

"Because chemotherapy wipes your system out, especially your...repro…you know what I'm talking about. I won't be able to have kids anymore."

"Oh," Brennan said. She had many other questions for him, but figured that right then wasn't the best time to ask them.

He hurried inside of the clinic and hurried back to the car. They drove in silence back to his apartment and he immediately went to his bedroom and laid down on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Brennan asked, sitting next to him.

"Not really," he answered.

"Would you like me to stay with you?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said and she laid down next to him, wrapping her arms around him. She watched as he fell asleep and then she began to cry again. If Booth wasn't talking to her about what was wrong, then this was very serious. Very bad.

"I love you," she whispered while he was sleeping. "I wish I had the courage to say this while you're awake. I'm not going anywhere. I promise," she said and she kissed him before getting up and heading to the Jeffersonian.

She searched for Cam and passed by Angela on her way there.

"Sweetie, are you okay? When Cam told me that you weren't coming in for a couple days I got worried."

"Just some things I had to take care of, Ange. I'm fine."

"Sweetie, you look like you've been crying. What's wrong?" she asked, not letting it go.

"I'm okay. You'll find out in time. I hope you understand that I can't tell you right now," Brennan said and Angela nodded.

"Yeah. Okay," Angela said and walked back to her office. "Sweetie, if you need to talk just call me."

Brennan smiled to her and hurried to Cam's office.

"Cam, may I speak with you please?" Brennan asked, standing in the doorway.

"Of course, Dr. Brennan. I thought you weren't coming back for a couple of days."

"I'm taking a sabbatical," Brennan blurted out. "Something has come up, and I won't be able to focus on my duties here at the Jeffersonian."

"What's wrong?" Cam asked and Brennan gave her a blank stare. "Well, don't get me wrong, but you're very hard working and you've never missed a day of work since … well, forever."

"Booth has cancer," Brennan blurted out. "I shouldn't have told you, Booth would've wanted to, but I had to tell someone."

"Again?" Cam asked.

"You knew before?" Brennan asked.

"Um…yeah. We were dating at the time, and I broke up with him while he was in treatment."

"You left him? He cared about you and needed you and you left him," Brennan started getting angry. "I won't be back for awhile, but don't expect me to come back," she growled and rushed out of the office.

She hurried back to Booth's apartment and was grateful to find him still asleep. She leaned down and began caressing his face.

"I'm so sorry. What she did to you…was horrible," Brennan said. "I won't do that to you. I won't leave you," she said and it was then Booth opened his eyes.

"Thank you," Booth said as he leaned up and kissed her. "I guess you talked to Cam."

"I'm really not going anywhere. I told her I'm taking a sabbatical, that way I can go to your treatments with you and take care of you here at home. She told me about before."

"Oh," Booth said.

"How could you ever forgive her for that?" Brennan asked.

"She's a different person now. She changed. I had to forgive her if we were going to be working together," Booth laughed.

"I'm serious; I won't do that to you."

"I know you won't."

A/N2: Sorry to put another one in, but I just had to make Cam a little evil. I still don't really care for her, although she has grown on me. I used to hate her so I'm sure some of you are happy some of you are not, but let me know what you think regardless.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: A special thank you to bonesweet21 (aka Lilly) for her help. She gave me the idea and majority of the dialogue and content for one of the parts of this chapter (emptying of the cabinets) and I'm extremely grateful to her. It was the basis for the whole chapter. Thanks for your help Lilly! And if you all want your ideas to come to the story, send them to me! I change some things around, but not much if you send me some dialogue. Anyway, this chapter is a little bit shorter, but it was a lot of fun to write. I enjoyed it a lot. I hope you all enjoy it too and laugh. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!

Chapter 6:

Brennan walked into the bedroom and watched him sleep for a minute or so before she sat down on the bed next to where he was lying, "Booth," Brennan whispered. "Booth, time to get up," she whispered into his ear.

Booth moaned in response and smiled. "What time is it?"

"Almost 7:30. The PET scan is at 8, you better hurry," Brennan said, standing up.

"Ugh, fine," Booth said and reluctantly sat up.

Brennan went into the kitchen and finished cooking him breakfast. She had decided to make him some eggs and bacon (she hated cooking bacon) to make him feel a little bit better about the upcoming test. She put everything onto a plate for him and set it on the table as she saw him walk out of the bedroom.

"Something smells good," Booth said as he sat down.

"I made you breakfast, eggs and bacon," she said smiling at him.

"Oh," he said and his face dropped.

"What?" she asked, noticing his changed expression.

"I can't eat anything before the scan, Bones," he said sadly. "Sorry, I should've told you," he said seeing her expression change.

"No, it's okay. I should've realized that," Brennan said as she took the plate and was about to throw the food away.

"No, don't throw it away. Food doesn't go bad. I'll eat it when we get back from the scan. I never pass up you're cooking," he said and she laughed.

"Fine," she said and wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Bones, I'm really tired, I think I'm going to go lie down for awhile," Booth said as he went into the bedroom.

"Okay, I have some chapters I want to write for my book, so I'll just sit on the couch."

"K, Bones," he said yawning and walking into the bedroom.

Brennan logged onto her computer and began researching more into chemotherapy treatments and Booth's type of cancer. She had discovered some interesting facts and sprang into action.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Booth awoke to a clashing sound coming from his kitchen. He rolled over to see what time it was. He had slept for almost 3 hours. He hardly ever took naps, unless they were with Parker, and now all he wanted to do was sleep. When the treatments started, he knew he would be even more tired, which he hated. He noticed that he had another night sweat and proceeded to take the sheets off his bed and put new ones on. He then went into the bathroom to take a shower when he caught a glance of himself in the mirror. He was pale and sweaty. He let out a deep sigh as he removed his clothes and stepped into the shower wishing in vain that everything was just a bad dream. His shower was quick, just enough to cool himself off. He felt much more refreshed and energized after his shower.

Meanwhile, Brennan was researching she found a very helpful website about chemotherapy and the side effects that patients have, along with what the patients should eat to stay healthy during treatment. So now she was rummaging through Booth's kitchen cabinets with a trash can by her side, throwing out all of Booth's unhealthy food that was not recommended.

Booth walked through the living room and stopped when he saw what Brennan was doing. He laughed and settled back to watch her. As he sat back the floor creaked and she turned around, frightened.

"Booth, don't scare me like that!" she said as she turned around, hand on her chest, trying to catch her breath. After Booth laughed at her reaction, she turned back around to continue her work. She threw a pack of pudding into the trash.

"Bones, what are you doing?" Booth asked as he walked toward the trash can. He almost had a heart attack when he saw how much of his food was in trash.

"What does it looks that I'm doing Booth?" She asked him with a sly grin on her face as she threw a bag of candy into the trash. "This is very unhealthy."

"That's Parker's," he said, lying, taking the bag out of the trash. He knew it was his, but he didn't want her to throw it away either. He gave her his best puppy dog sad face so that she would let him keep it.

"I can tell when you're lying, Booth. You always seem to forget that," she said as she threw the bag back into the trash can.

"Ok, that is a stupid question. But why are you doing this? I know that my food selection does not live up to your standards, but that doesn't mean that you can throw it all away," Booth said as he began digging through the trash to retrieve some of his food. "Bones, you know I can't live without pudding," he said, holding up the pack of pudding to her. "Or cheese," he said showing her.

Brennan got off the chair and grabbed the things out of his hands and put that back into the garbage.

"Booth, I wasn't going to throw it out. I was going to donate it." Booth's eyes grew wide at her comment.

"You what?" He asked, at a loss for words. Brennan took his hand in hers and showed him the internet site she had found on her computer that was now sitting on the kitchen counter. He looked confused as he began looking at the site.

"Look," she said pointing to the page. In front of him was a page of some recommendations for patients undergoing chemotherapy. He took a quick glance at the page and saw in amusement that one of the recommendations was going to a nutritionist and starting a new diet, so the body reacted well to the treatment. "Booth," she said sitting at his side. "I don't want to impede on your lifestyle, but I told you that I would help you. These are just recommendations. I called a friend of mine and asked her about chemotherapy and the side effects. She's a nutritionist and she helped me find this site. She also said that you should restrain yourself for drinking coffee or eating really cheesy meals among other things."

She laughed when she saw his eyes grow wide. "What?" He shouted in disbelief. "No more mac and cheese?" he asked sadly.

Brennan brought her hand up to caress his jaw and smiled. "I will make it for you the night before the first treatment, but after that no. She also explained to me that you have to eat more fruits and healthy foods, that's why I was empting your cupboards. Everything you eat is very unhealthy, Booth. I was hoping you were up to going to the store with me to help me select things for your new diet. If you're good, maybe I'll let you get pudding."

Booth smiled at her. He couldn't say no to her when she smiled at him like that.

"Ok. Can I help you get rid of some of this stuff?" He asked her, understanding that she was trying to make things easier for him.

"Sure," she said standing up, offering her hand to him. He gladly took her hand in his and he brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. They both started to clear out the cabinets and Booth smiled. It had been so long since someone took the time to take care of him that it almost felt unreal. He was so grateful that Brennan was there with him, he couldn't have gone through the biopsy and the scan without her, and he knew that he wouldn't have to go through anything else without her. She was there to stay. The silence suddenly filled with laughter when he spotted her tossing a new box of his favorite cereal into the bag and he retrieved it. Brennan gave him a stern look and he began arguing over the cereal. They continued bickering while they finished emptying the cabinets, but smiling. He understood she was helping him and he was grateful for that but that didn't mean that he would just let her get rid of everything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Booth, how about some asparagus?" she asked, as she held up the vegetable.

"Bones, are you serious? Come on, they look like … sticks," he said giving her a disgusted face.

"Booth, they're very good for you. And once they're cooked, they taste very good," she said as she put the asparagus in the cart.

"Why do I get the feeling you're turning me into a vegetarian?" he asked her as he looked through the produce.

She smiled at him and continued to look through the vegetables.

"This is almost as bad as that time you dragged me to that organic stand," Booth said as he leaned against the cart.

"That's a good idea. They have an excellent selection of produce. We'll go there when we're finished there," she said as she put some broccoli into the cart.

Booth groaned as he laid his head in his heads, mentally kicking himself for mentioning it. "You know, taking you to the grocery store is like Angela going on a shopping spree at the mall."

"I don't know what that means," she said.

"It means that you get overly excited about buying produce," he said as he picked up a tomato, tossed it in the air and put it back down.

"No, I just like being healthy. Now, my friend said that you need a very balanced diet, so we need to include grains like pasta and bread and then some meats, and very very few sugary sweets she said.

"Very few?" Booth asked, cringing.

"Yes," Brennan said.

"Well, what about hard candies and stuff?" he asked and she looked at him, wondering. "It helped with the nausea last time."

"Okay, we can get some hard candies, but you can only have them when you're nauseous," she said as she continued moving throughout the store.

"Damn," he muttered as he followed her.

The remainder of the shopping trip continued much in the same way. They did end up buying some organic food from the produce stand, much to Booth's dismay.

When they got back to the apartment and put all of the food away, Booth fell on the couch.

"I'm exhausted," he said as she sat down next to him. He draped his arm around her and she leaned back into him.

"When are you going to tell Parker?" she asked him.

"Not yet. He doesn't even know about the last time. I don't want him to get scared. I guess I'll tell him when treatments start, once we get the PET scan results back."

"You have to tell everyone else too," Brennan said as she took his hand and began tracing his fingers with hers.

"I know. It's just…not the right time," Booth said. "They'll know something is wrong soon enough."

"Well, Cam knows, but I don't think she'll tell anyone. She seemed upset," Brennan said. "Why did she do that to you?" she asked, turning to face him and he looked away.

"She didn't mean to. It was probably my fault. She tried to help me, but I just pushed her away. She wanted to take care of me, but I didn't want her to. I was so independent back then. And when I did need her, I didn't have the courage to tell her that I was wrong. She may have broken up with me, but it was my fault," Booth said.

"I don't want you to push me away," Brennan said.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to. That's the difference between you and Cam. You wouldn't leave me alone even if I pushed you away," Booth said.

"That's true," Brennan said and he laughed.

"Not to mention, this time around it's a lot different. I'm older now. My body isn't as strong as it used to be. It's going to be worse this time," he said.

"I love you," Brennan blurted out loud.

Booth smiled and laughed, "Well, that came out of nowhere."

"I do. I wanted to say it to you so many times, but I just … couldn't."

"I love you too, Bones," he said and he kissed her, long and sweet.

"You look tired, you should get to bed," Brennan said.

"Only if you come with me," Booth said as he stood up and held out his hand to her.

She smiled and took it as she followed him to the bedroom. They both climbed into bed and Brennan cuddled up to him, wrapping her arms around his stomach.

"Beware the night sweats," he warned, laughing.

"I'm not scared," she said.

He leaned down and kissed her. That was when he knew that everything would be okay.

A/N2: A lot of you said that you liked Cam and you hated her evil, and some of you were like me and were totally like I can see Cam doing that, but see, she's totally not evil, even though I still don't like her lol.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Okay, all of you reviewers that was a sorry excuse for Chapter 6 only…10 reviews…come on you can do better than that!!! J/k but it would be really really nice to get more than that. Thanks to everyone who read and to those of you who reviewed, it was much appreciated. Okay, some credit again to bonesweet21 (aka Lilly) who is amazing and gave me the idea for the central venous catheter and for her awesome information and the idea for the merry-go-round with Parker goes to boothbones4ever2ghether! Thanks for your great ideas guys. This is extra long for missing a day!!! ENJOY! REVIEW!

Chapter 7:

Brennan awoke to the sound of Booth's phone ringing. She noticed he wasn't stirring so she reached over and picked it up.

"Booth's phone," she answered.

"Who is this?" a little voice answered.

"Parker? It's Dr. Bones," she said as she got out of bed and walked to a quieter area so she wouldn't disturb Booth.

"Oh, is daddy there?"

"He's a little busy right now, Parker. Would you like me to give him a message for you?" she asked him. She and the little boy had gotten to know each other a lot better. Sometimes she spent weekends with the two of them, and now that she and Booth were sort of in a relationship, she figured she would be seeing a lot more of Parker.

"No, that's okay. Maybe I'll call him later," Parker said and hung up.

She smiled, although the boy was nearly 9 years old he was still the cutest thing in the world.

She heard Booth mumble and roll over as she walked back into the bedroom. "Who was that?"

"Parker. I guess he just wanted to talk to you," she said as she sat next to him.

"Oh. I'll call him back then," Booth said as he sat up. "Hey, no sweating."

"Progress," she smiled. "You should tell him, Booth."

"I know," Booth said as he kept his head down. "Maybe I'll take him to the park. You wanna come?" he asked her.

"I don't know. I don't want to impose."

"I would feel a lot better if you were there. Maybe you can ride the merry-go-round."

"What?" she asked laughing.

"You like carousels right, Bones?" he asked as he stood up and started to change his clothes.

"Well, sometimes I suppose. Ugh, to tell you the truth I'm terrified of them," she said.

"You have to go on," Booth said. "It's fun."

"Booth, no." she said warning. "I can't."

"Bones, I thought you weren't afraid of anything," he said smiling at her.

"I'm scared of a lot of things," she admitted.

"Me too," he said. "Let me call Parker and then we're going," he said and she groaned at him.

Rebecca agreed to drop Parker off in about a half an hour and Booth and Brennan sat on a park bench waiting.

"Daddy!" Parker yelled running up to Booth.

Booth jumped up from the bench with a huge grin on his face and he caught Parker in his arms and held him.

"Hey bud," he said laughing.

"Hey Dr. Bones," Parker said, seeing her sitting there.

"Hi Parker," she said, smiling.

"Are you going to play with us?" Parker asked.

She looked at Booth unsure and nodded. "Yes."

"But first, there's something I want to talk to you about, Parker," Booth said as he sat Parker between him and Brennan on the bench.

"Parker, Daddy's sick," Booth started out.

"Well, then we should go home and you should get into bed. You'll be all better tomorrow," Parker said, grabbing Booth's hand trying to pull him off the bench.

"No, Parker. Not that kind of sick. I have something called Hodgkin's Lymphoma or Hodgkin's Disease."

"What's that?" Parker asked.

"It's a form of cancer. Daddy had it a long time ago, way before you were even born and it came back. It makes Daddy pretty sick sometimes."

"Mommy told me that grandma had cancer is that the same thing?" Parker asked.

"Grandma had a different kind of cancer, but yeah it's kinda the same thing."

"Well, can they give you medicine to make you better?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, and the medicine can make me really sick too, but it should help me get better."

"Do you have to stay in the hospital?" Parker asked, worried.

"No. I get to stay home, and I don't have to go to work for awhile so that's pretty cool huh?" Booth asked.

"Yeah, do we still get to spend weekends together?" Parker asked, worried.

"Of course, buddy. I love our weekends together, I wouldn't miss that for anything," Booth said. "The medicine will have some effects though."

"Like what?" Parker asked.

"Like I might lose my hair and I might puke a lot and I might not be as strong as I was before."

"Does that mean we can't play football anymore?" Parker asked sadly.

"Just for a little bit, but we can do other fun stuff like watch movies and eat pizza til we throw up," Booth said and Parker laughed.

"I love it when we do that," Parker said.

"Me too," Booth said and noticed Brennan's confused expression and laughed. "Do you have any other questions, Parker?"

"No, can we play now?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, here," he said and brought Parker close to him and whispered something into his ear.

"WHAT?" Parker asked, surprised and unbelieving and Booth nodded his head, smiling.

Parker turned to Brennan with a shocked expression and said, "Dr. Bones, you've never been on a merry-go-round?"

Brennan glared at Booth who gave her his charm smile and her gaze softened. "No, I have I just had a bad experience, that's all."

"Like what, your pony didn't move up and down?" Booth asked, joking.

"No. I might have gotten sick but only once," she said and looked away from Booth.

"Wait a second, you've actually thrown up before? I thought Dr. Temperance Brennan never vomited," Booth laughed.

"I don't vomit. That was once, only one time and never since. I have a very unstable equilibrium," she said in defense.

"Bones, I promise it's not bad. Come on, I'll go with you. I'll hold onto you when you're on the horse," Booth reassured her.

"Booth no, I'm serious," Brennan said.

"Dr. Bones, please. The merry-go-round is fun. Will you please go on with me?" Parker asked, giving her his best charm smile, and she had to give in.

"Okay," Brennan said as she stood up and Parker grabbed her hand. "If I vomit, it's all your fault," she said, poking Booth in the chest.

"Okay," Booth said. They made their way onto the merry-go-round and Parker picked a horse to get onto. Booth lifted him on and belted him as Brennan attempted to get onto the horse beside him. "You need help Bones?" he asked as he saw her struggle.

"Maybe," she said after a failed attempt.

"Here," he said as he supported her as she climbed onto the horse and she held onto the belt for support.

"Don't let go," Brennan said as Booth kept a firm hand on her.

"Bones, I'm right here. You couldn't fall even if you tried," he laughed.

"Shut up," she said as she waited for the ride to start.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I won't let you go," he said and as the ride started he stifled back a chuckle as she gasped and gripped the strap tighter.

"See Dr. Bones, this is fun!" Parker smiled at her and she tried to smile back at him.

Booth felt her relax after they made it around the first time and by the end she had a stunned look on her face.

"Bones? Are you okay?" Booth asked, watching her expression.

"I never realized how stimulating a carousel is. It attracts little children with the lights and the movement and the horses. I can't believe I never noticed that before," she said.

"Yeah, fascinating," he said as she stepped down and she wobbled. "You okay?"

"I told you I have a horrible equilibrium. I'll be okay in a minute," she said as he held onto her and she closed her eyes, regaining her balance. "Okay."

"Let's go get some ice cream," Booth said excitedly as Parker ran off toward the ice cream stand.

Booth grabbed Brennan's hand and he felt her relax as he held her hand. He thought that she was going to go off on a tangent about public displays of affection, but she didn't and he was glad she was letting him hold her hand.

Just then Booth's phone rang and she tried to catch his end of the conversation, but she was lost. She tried reading his expression, but she was never good at that either.

"Who was that?" she asked once Booth hung up.

"That was Dr. Hincks. They have the results, he said he can meet me in his office right now," Booth said as they reached the ice cream stand and he paid for Parker's ice cream.

"Well, we should go right?" she asked.

"Yeah, Parker come on, you can eat that in the car. Daddy's has somewhere really important to go, sorry we have to cut this short, I'll drop you off at Mom's," he said and they all made their way to the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So what did he say?" Brennan asked as they once again sat in Dr. Hincks' office.

"Just that he had the results. He didn't say anything else," Booth said as he sat there, trying to control his shaking hands.

Brennan saw him staring at his hands, saw him shaking and she grabbed both of his hands with hers and began to calm him down.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous," he said, chuckling.

"It's okay," she said as the door opened and Dr. Hincks walked in.

"Good afternoon, Agent Booth. Dr. Brennan," he said addressing them as he sat behind his desk, opening a chart which Brennan assumed was Booth's.

"What do the results say?" Booth asked anxiously.

"Good news. The cancer hasn't spread, which means it's very treatable. I still won't to do some high dose chemotherapy to get started and then move into a more scheduled treatment. I want to start as soon as possible," Dr. Hincks said.

"Of course," Booth said and turned to Brennan with a smile on his face.

"There is a procedure I wanted to speak to you about. It's called a central venous catheter."

"What is that?" Booth asked, looking to Brennan and he saw a blank look on her face, meaning she didn't know what it was either.

"It's a catheter that we would put into your neck or chest area and it's for prolonged treatment. In this case, we would implant it into your chest and we would inject the chemotherapy through the skin to the catheter. It would be helpful instead of sticking you several times a week with a needle. You could probably even inject it at home. There are some risks, but nothing you would have to worry about. I think this is something that would be good for you."

"No," Booth said and Brennan looked to him in surprise.

"Booth…" she started.

"No, I don't want to try that," Booth said as he stood up and walked out of the office.

"Excuse us," Brennan said as she got up and followed him. "What was all that about?" she asked as she found him halfway down the hall.

"I can't do that, Bones. It sounds so … dangerous," he said and she could see the fear in his eyes.

"You're scared, I'm scared too. But you're sick, and Dr. Hincks seems to know a lot about this. He said it would be good for you. I think it's something that you should do."

"I don't want something implanted into my chest. Needles are one thing, but a whole tube?" he asked.

"I had some surgery once, and the doctor left a scalpel inside me," Brennan said.

"Oh my God," Booth said.

"That didn't help did it?" she asked.

"Not really," he said.

"Okay, well, it's perfectly natural. There are hardly any risks he said, I think you should at least hear him out," Brennan said.

"Fine," Booth said and walked back into the office. In the end, Booth consented to the procedure.

Dr. Hincks scheduled the surgery for the next day and Booth and Brennan spent the rest of the day at his apartment, in silence. Partly because Booth had decided to sleep, while he did that Brennan did some more search on implanted central venous catheters and found that they were very safe and that it would be better for Booth in the long run. Booth's incision would need to heal for about a day before they would start the first round of chemotherapy treatment.

Brennan drove him to the hospital and she could tell he was apprehensive about the surgery. He wasn't speaking to her, but she figured it was just because he was scared. She kept reassuring him every couple of minutes with subtle caresses or simply by saying that everything was going to be okay and he would relax again.

She stayed with Booth as they prepped him for the surgery, but this time she wasn't allowed to come. So she decided to make her way to the oncology wing of the hospital. She saw a bunch of people in hospital beds, masks covering their faces, so as to not catch germs and she saw many sleeping or some were getting sick. Then she came to a room with children. Many of them had lost their hair and many of them were asleep except for one little child. The child was no older than 3 or 4 years old, and Brennan made her way into the room.

She smiled at the child and the child smiled in return. She wasn't surprised when the child didn't cry, she suspected that the child was used to strangers being around doctors and nurses day in and day out. She sat down in the chair beside the child's bed and started to talk to her.

"What's your name?" she asked the child.

"Katie," she said.

"Hi Katie, my name is Tempe," she said.

"Are you another doctor?" she asked, somewhat frightened.

"Well, I'm a doctor, but not that kind of doctor," she said. "I help identify people."

"How do you do that?" Katie asked.

"I use their bones," Brennan said and regretted it after she said it. She didn't want to scare the child.

"Cool!" Katie exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool."

"Dr. Tempe, I don't like it in here. I want to go home," she said.

"I'm sorry. I don't like hospitals either," Brennan said.

"Why are you here? Are you sick too?" Katie asked.

"No, a very good friend of mine is sick. He's getting a tube put in his chest now," Brennan said.

"Is he going to be okay?" Katie asked, worried.

"Yeah. The tube will make him feel much better."

"That's good," Katie said and Brennan smiled.

"Well, I should probably go back to my friend. I would love to come and visit you again sometime," Brennan said.

"Me too! No one ever comes and visits me. Will you come tomorrow?" Katie asked, excited.

"Maybe. It was nice to meet you, Katie," Brennan said and gave her a small hug.

Brennan made it back to the surgical waiting room and sat patiently for Booth. It was supposed to be a short procedure, but he was under anesthesia and might not be awake for awhile. She waited about another half hour before Dr. Hincks came to get her.

"Agent Booth is awake if you would like to come back," he said and she followed him to where Booth was. He was lying flat on his back and he looked slightly groggy.

"Bones?" he asked seeing her.

"Hey," she said smiling and giving him her hand.

"Wow, you're beautiful," he said and she knew he was enjoying the effects of the anesthesia.

"Thank you," she said.

"He'll have to stay here for a few hours and then you can take him home," Dr. Hincks said to Brennan.

"Thank you," Brennan said turning her attention back to her.

"Thank you, Dr. Hincks!!!" Booth shouted and Brennan couldn't help but laugh.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: A big thank you again to bonesweet21 for some great ideas and dialogue. It's helpful. Thanks again guys for all of your support and reviews, they're awesome. Keep it up! Hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'm so surprised I keep popping out these huge chapters; it's totally not like me lol. Anyway, ENJOY AND REVIEW!

Chapter 8:

Booth awoke and was once again covered in sweat. He couldn't take much more of this. He hated to sweat, even on the job and now he did nothing and was sweating all the time.

He looked around for Brennan and couldn't find her. He got up and walked around, he had spent all night in bed, after his surgery. He was tired for the rest of the day and his chest hurt. A lot. Dr. Hincks had assured him that it would be a lot easier when it came to the chemo treatments, but he still hated the fact that there was a tube in his chest. He remembered taking a bunch of Tylenol and lying on the bed, and that was it. He was out.

He found Brennan's laptop sitting on his coffee table and there were papers scattered all over his living room. He made it to the kitchen and saw a note taped to the refrigerator. She had gone to the lap after they called about a case, she would be back soon. Knowing her he knew she would be there forever, but just as he thought that he heard the door open.

"Bones?" he asked.

"Hey. I didn't want to wake you," she said as she closed the door and put her things down.

"That's okay," he said.

"How are you?" she asked as she made her way over to him and put her arms around him, trying to be careful of his incision, leaning up to kiss him.

"Mm…better now," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Does your chest hurt?" she asked, pulling away, and reaching to gently touch the incision, covered by a dressing.

"Eh…not really," he said and she looked at him, knowing he was lying. "Okay, it hurts like a bitch," he said and she laughed.

"Sit down. I think you're bleeding," she said as she grabbed a bandage that Dr. Hincks had given them to change his dressing every so often when needed.

He sat there and waited.

"Count of three?" she asked him and he nodded. "Okay. 1 … 2 …" and she ripped the bandage off.

"OW! What the hell happened to 3?" he asked and she smiled.

"The anticipation is the worst thought. I thought I would spare you," she said.

"Ha, that's funny. That hurt, Bones," he said as she began putting the new dressing on.

"I'm sorry," she said pouting as she finished putting the bandage on and she leaned down to kiss it. "Better?"

"Mmhm," he said nodding and she leaned up and captured his lips again.

"I met a little girl the other day," she said as he pulled her into his lap. "Booth! I might hurt you," she said, trying to get up.

"You're fine. What little girl?" he asked.

"While you were in surgery I walked around and I went to the oncology ward. There was a little girl her name was Katie. I might go visit her when you start your treatment," she said.

"You didn't tell her the scalpel story did you?" he asked and she glared at him.

"No. She was very … sweet. She thinks that bones are cool," she said.

"Oh no. Not another squint," Booth said in disgust.

"She's only 3 or 4 years old, Booth. She would have to be extremely intelligent, which I believe she is."

"I was just kidding, Bones. Really, why do you have to be so literal?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying," she said.

"I know you are," he said. "Well, I have big plans for us today."

"Not another merry-go-round thing," she said as she stood up and followed him into the bedroom.

He started to change the sheets and she helped him. "Nope. We are going bowling."

"What?" she asked. "Couldn't we like…go to a museum or something?"

"No. Bones, I have to be good at some things. We can play with the bumpers if you want," he said and she raised her eyebrows, confused.

"Bumpers on a car? How do you play with those? That makes no sense," she said and he just looked at her dumbfounded.

"No, Bones. I'll show you when we get there, don't worry," he said.

After they changed his sheets and they ate a small breakfast Booth drove them to the bowling alley.

"Ah, America's favorite sport," Booth said as he took in the smell of the alley.

"Statistically, it isn't. It's football," she pointed out to him.

"Whatever. Look around, it's a great smell," he said as she turned up her nose. "Let's get you some shoes," he said as he wrapped an arm around her and got her a pair of shoes.

"Oh my God, these things smell…"

"Great," he finished for her.

"Terrible. Since when did society stop practicing good hygiene?" she asked.

"Years of these shoes being used, Bones. Of course they're going to smell," he said as she reluctantly put them on. "You ready? Here's your ball."

He handed it to her and she nearly dropped it, expecting it not to be that heavy. "Whoa, you okay?" he asked, grabbing her arm to steady her.

"Yeah," she said and they made their way to the lane. Booth put the bumpers down to make sure she wouldn't get any gutter balls and complain the entire time they were there.

"Okay Bones, you can go first," he said and she turned to the other bowlers to see how they were bowling. She had never been bowling before and couldn't even attempt to determine how to do it.

"Okay," she said to herself and breathed deeply before she bowled and got a strike. "What does that mean?"

"No way," he said. "How did you do that? That was amazing," he said.

"I still don't know what it means," she said.

"It means that you get a lot of point. Okay, my turn. Stand back," he said as he grabbed his ball. He approached the lane and took a deep breath before pulling his arm back, he would've been fine until a pain shot through his chest and he dropped his arm, letting the ball go.

"Wow, that wasn't that good, Booth," she said and chuckling a little as she watched the ball slowly roll down the lane until he didn't turn around. "Booth?"

"Bones," he whimpered. "Bones," he said more in pain this time.

"Booth," she said rushing forward and facing him. She saw his face full of pain and she grabbed his arm and brought him to sit back down. "Booth."

He started taking deep breaths and he started to hold onto his chest.

"I knew we shouldn't have come here. You exerted yourself too much, you're chest isn't healed enough."

"Just get me home, Bones," he said, still in pain.

"Okay." She had managed to get him to the car and situated before she drove back to his apartment. "I should call the doctor," she said as she helped him sit down on the couch.

"No, it's fine. I'm okay," he said his breathing still slightly altered.

"You're not okay…" Brennan started, but Booth put a finger to her lips to silence her.

"Bones, I'm so sick and tired of seeing that doctor, okay? It's bad enough I have to start chemo tomorrow. Let me just rest, okay? If it gets worse I'll let you know," he said as he laid down on the couch and focused on his breathing.

"I'll go get you something to drink, you need to stay hydrated," she said and when she made it back to the couch with a glass of water he was already fast asleep.

She set the water down on the table and kneeled down next to the couch. She ran a hand through his hair as tears started to gather in her eyes. "You can't scare me like that, Booth. You have to be okay, you have to make it through all of this, because I can't live the rest of my life without you. Sweets was right, we complete each other."

She knew he was fast asleep and couldn't hear her crying, and she didn't want him to ever hear what she had just said. She needed to be strong for him, and she felt that if he knew how scared she really was that it would only make things worse for him. He didn't need to be there for her right now like he had been so many times throughout the past couple of years. It was her turn now.

She started watching him sleep, in awe of how he looked so peaceful while he slept. He didn't have a care or worry in the world as he slept, and for that she was grateful. She brought her hands up to his chest and began to massage him. He stirred for a second and fell back to sleep as she continued to massage the area of his incision, hoping it would make him feel better.

She continued through her day as Booth slept. After what had happened at the bowling alley, she wasn't surprised but she kept a close eye on him. His pain must have subsided significantly if he was fast asleep. He stayed that way through the remainder or the day and into the night until she awoke him the next morning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dr. Hincks had checked Booth's incision and decided to progress with starting chemotherapy. Brennan decided to slip away to see Katie. She saw the little girl sitting up in bed and her face brightened when she saw Brennan.

"Dr. Tempe!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Katie, how are you?" Brennan asked.

"I'm okay. I got really sick over night," Katie said sadly. "I feel much better now though."

"Well, that's good," Brennan said and smiled at Katie.

"Excuse me," a voice called from the door. Brennan turned around and saw a woman in a suit carrying a file around with her.

"I'll be right back," Brennan said to Katie and left with the woman. "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan," she said, extending her hand to the woman. She did not accept it.

"What are you doing with that child?" the woman asked coldly.

"I'm visiting her. She's a wonderful child, and she seemed lonely, I'm just talking to her," Brennan said defensively.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that."

"Okay, what is wrong with you? You're being very rude," Brennan said and the woman's eyes flared in anger.

"Katie is a foster child. She's in between homes right now. Her parents abandoned her when she was first diagnosed. She's dying, Dr. Brennan."

Brennan turned back to look at Katie and realized just how alone this child was.

"Well, I'm a registered foster parent, I would gladly take her," Brennan said, hoping that she could take Katie from the hospital where she could just be a child and have fun.

"I'm sorry, that's not possible. The doctors say she doesn't have much time, and she might not make it by the time the paperwork goes through," the woman said.

"I don't care," Brennan said angrily, "She needs to have some kind of family, someone who cares about her. Bring me the paperwork, I'll do it," she said and the woman began to stalk away.

Brennan returned to Katie and noticed she had already fallen asleep. She smiled, grabbing her hand.

"Do you realize how brave you are?" Brennan whispered. She sat there watching Katie sleep before she heard another voice, very recognizable.

"Bones?" he asked. "Is that Katie?"

"I'm sorry I didn't stay, but I had to see her. This is Katie," she whispered. "Booth, she's a foster child."

Booth gazed at Katie sadly and said, "How sick is she?"

"Very sick. The doctors don't think she'll make it much further," she told him the story of the worker that had come and told her about Katie. "I told her to bring me the paperwork."

"I'm really proud of you, Bones," Booth said, wrapping an arm around her and kissed her temple.

"She can't go through this alone, Booth. She's just a child. Her parents didn't even care about her enough to help her."

"Well, you care," Booth said. "She's a very lucky girl."

The woman came back and nearly threw the paperwork at Brennan. She stood by the door as Brennan filled out the paperwork and handed them back to the woman.

"Someone will contact you as soon as the paperwork goes through," she said and hurried off.

"What's up her ass?" Booth asked.

"Booth," Brennan scolded. "Language."

"She's asleep," Booth said in defense.

"We should leave before she wakes up," Brennan said and they quietly left the room.

Brennan drove back to the apartment and Booth went from being in a pretty good mood to not so happy. He started looking a little pale, tired, and sickly. Brennan drove as fast as she could so Booth could rest.

She got Booth situated on the couch while she got him some water and Tylenol. He shrugged both away from him and Brennan protested.

"Booth, it'll make you feel better," she said as she tried to push it onto him.

"I'm fine, Bones. Okay, I'm just tired," he said as he got comfortable on the couch and Brennan sat down on the chair next to him.

She pulled out her laptop and began working on another chapter of her book. Although she was taking a sabbatical to be with Booth, she still needed something to do, not to mention she had deadlines to meet.

A few hours later she was nearly done with the chapter when she saw Booth stir next to her. She heard him groan as he got up and quickly made his way to the bathroom. She put her laptop down quickly and got up to follow him when she noticed that he had shut and locked the door.

"Booth?" she asked, knocking on the door after hearing him retching. "Are you okay?"

She heard the door click and opened slightly. There was Booth, sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall next to the toilet. He had flushed the toilet and was taking deep breaths.

"Somehow I forgot about this part," he said trying to laugh.

She grabbed a washcloth and wet it with cold water and placed it on his face, trying to cool him off. He had started to sweat in his sleep again.

"That feel better?" she asked him as she straddled his legs.

"Yeah," he said as he enjoyed feeling the cool cloth on his skin. "Ugh, I can't believe it started already. I thought it would've at least held off for a week at least."

"Sorry," Brennan said as she saw that it was going to be a long and hard treatment for him. She already had seen how much weight he had lost and how he looked so much sicker. He got skinny, the muscles he once had that made him look so toned were now gone. All of his clothes draped on him. It scared her, but hopefully once it was over he would be perfectly fine.

"I was thinking," she said and he looked up at her expectantly. "Maybe you should move into my apartment. I know that's not a very romantic proposal, but I think I'd be able to take better care of you there. I have more room and you may be more comfortable there," she said.

"Sure," he said immediately.

"You don't want to think about it?" she asked him.

"Well, I'm not like you," he laughed. "I think it's a very good idea. Very logical," he said and kissed her and she gave him a "pinch-y" face. "Bad breath?" he asked.

"Just a little," she said. He gestured for her to stand up and as he stood, he needed some extra help since he was so exhausted. He began brushing his teeth and swishing mouth wash.

"Gonna need more of this," he said after he had spit it out. "Let me get some things and we'll head over to your place."

After packing up some of his things and majority of the food they had bought the other day, they made the trip to Brennan's apartment and they had put a lot of the medications in the bathroom and throughout the rest of his apartment.

"Oh man, I forgot. No TV," he said disappointed yet teasing.

"I'm planning on purchasing one, don't worry. Since I won't have much to do, I may start to watch it with you," she said.

"Oh my God, can I get that in writing?" he asked, teasing.

"As long as it's educational," she said and he groaned.

After finding a place for most of his things they both sat and relaxed on the couch. He eventually fell asleep again and she slipped from his embrace, pulling her laptop back out to continue her writing. She situated herself on the floor leaning back against the couch. As she finished another chapter she saw a window pop up on her screen.

She saw it was a connection to the Jeffersonian and realized it was probably Angela checking in on her. She smiled as she opened the window and saw Angela's smiling face staring back at her.

"Oh Sweetie! I miss you so much. How are you?" Angela asked from the small window.

"I'm fine Ange." Angela looked skeptically at Brennan. She could see a worried expression on Brennan's face, she just looked different.

"Are you sure sweetie?" Brennan looked up toward the couch and smiled sadly. Booth was still sleeping soundly and she was grateful. It was better than the alternative.

"I'm tired Ange, that's all."

Angela didn't really believe her friend but recognized the need to change the subject and picked something else to talk about.

The conversation continued for nearly five minutes, when Brennan heard Booth groan in pain. He had taken some medication that Dr. Hincks had prescribed him after he got sick and felt much better, but that medication was wearing off right about now, and Brennan knew what was coming. He opened his eyes and in less than a minute she saw get up quickly and hurried to the bathroom. She then heard the horrible sound of Booth retching again. It was only the second time hearing him get sick, but she hated it. It was very uncomfortable, but she still didn't want to leave him alone.

"Brennan?" Angela asked slowly to get Brennan's attention and she turned back to the camera. "What is Booth doing there and in his PJs?" Angela asked half amused and half scared. She had caught a quick glance of Booth as he passed the camera and she saw the quickness of his movements.

"Ange, I have to go," Brennan said, closing the monitor when she heard Angela speak again.

"Bren, don't hang up on me!" Brennan lifted the screen quickly. "What's going on?" She demanded.

"I promise that I will call you later, but I really have to go. Bye." And without saying another word, she closed the monitor and hurried to the bathroom.

"Oh, Booth." She said as she spotted him sitting on the floor with his hand resting over his head that was leaning on the toilet. She wrapped her arms around him and he turned to embrace her. There was nothing else she could do for him, but it was comforting to her to hold him. She pulled back and rubbed his back as another round of nausea hit him and she turned her head away slightly so she wouldn't have to watch him go through this pain. He continued retching for a few more moments before nearly collapsing onto the floor. His body was so exhausted, and Brennan didn't know if he'd be able to handle many more days like this.

Booth remained sitting on the floor for almost ten minutes trying to regain his strength and his breath. He didn't look at her; he just let her touch him. He finally looked to her and he didn't need to say anything, she knew it. With enormous care, she helped him stand up after give him some more mouth wash and directed him toward her bedroom.

"I was talking to Angela. She saw you when you ran behind me. She asked what was going on." Bones said in a low tone while she helped Booth get situated in the bed. "I didn't tell her anything. I just told her that I would call her later." While she was getting him comfortable, he grabbed her hand as she was fighting with the comforter on her bed. She looked into his eyes and held his gaze for a few minutes until he brought it close and kissed it.

"Thank you. Tell Angela to come later after work." Brennan could hear the sadness in his tone and she bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"Are you sure?" She asked with caution. Telling Parker that his dad was sick was one thing, but telling their friends was a completely different story. Parker didn't need a lot of details because he was so young, but she knew they would ask, and she didn't know how much information Booth was willing to give.

"It's ok. They would've figured out something was wrong sooner or later. I'm not getting better anytime soon so tell Angela to come over later with Hodgins," Booth said in a low voice and closed his eyes.

"I will call her after getting you some medicine and something to eat." Brennan saw the disgusted face he gave her and smiled. "The doctor said that you need to eat."

"I know, but I felt bad enough with the oatmeal I ate this morning. I don't want to eat anymore," Booth gave her a little lopsided smile. "Maybe some candy?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Only a few, Booth. They're still not good for you." She smiled while searching in the kitchen for his candies. She was surprised that they really did help with his nausea. She stayed with him in the bed as he slept until there was a knock on the door.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Okay, so it's taken me awhile to update, and I really don't like this chapter hopefully it'll pick back up. Updates aren't likely until around Wed. or Thurs. at the latest, so I apologize. Thanks to bonesweet21 again for her Angela and Hodgins goodness! By the way, I needed to clear some things up…Booth actually took a medical leave from work, he didn't really quit, and I apologize if the medicine and stuff isn't completely accurate, I did as much research as I could to get as accurate as possible, but some information just isn't available. I hope you all ENJOY and REVIEW!

Chapter 9:

The knock was growing louder and louder, and as Brennan closed the bedroom door and made her way through her apartment, she could hear shouting coming from outside the door.

"Sweetie! What the hell?" she heard Angela yell loudly and Brennan opened the door. "Oh, thank God, you're alive," Angela said relieved.

"Yes, very," Brennan said to her as she let Angela and Hodgins into her apartment.

"Well, you didn't call me back like you said you were I thought something was seriously wrong. I grabbed Hodgins and we came right over," Angela said quickly as she sat down on Brennan's couch.

"Oh, I'm just glad you're okay," Angela said as she pulled Brennan down on the couch and into a hug.

"I missed you too Ange." Brennan said rolling her eyes and pulling away from Angela.

Angela sat there and looked around the apartment, searching for her favorite F-B-eye candy without luck. Angela saw that Jack was also searching for Booth too and both directed their attention back to Brennan who looked down at her hands, avoiding their gaze.

"Dr. B., where's Booth? Angie said he was here," Jack said. He missed Booth, although he would never admit it to him for fear of being shot on the spot. They had a strange friendship, but all of them had become so much closer since Zach had left. Booth hadn't threatened to shoot him in a long time.

"Bren, what is going on?" Angela asked worried. "I know I saw Booth earlier. Where is he?" she asked, seeing worry and exhaustion in her face, and she could tell her thoughts were elsewhere.

"I'll explain everything in a few minutes. If you two can wait here for a few minutes, I'll get Booth." Without waiting for any acceptance, Brennan walked toward her room and both of them noticed how slowly and quietly she opened the door and closed it behind her as she walked in.

"What's happening?" Angela asked Hodgins. He only shrugged in response.

While they waited, Angela started pacing in the living room, due to increasing nervousness. She could tell that Booth had made himself pretty comfortable in Brennan's apartment as she spotted some sport magazines on the coffee table. Hodgins on the other hand, had been sitting on the armchair silently, when he spotted two bottles of pills resting on the far corner of the coffee table. He picked them up and read the labels. Anzemet and Tylenol with codeine. He shook his head in disbelieve. Both prescriptions were prescribed to Booth and Anzemet was commonly used to…

Hodgins' train of thought was interrupted when he heard a gasp from Angela. He looked up to see where Angela was looking, and his jaw dropped as he saw a weak Booth slowly walking, slightly hunched over, toward them. His skin was pale and Hodgins could see deep black marks under his eyes. Brennan was Booth's main support but Hodgins saw her struggling to help him to the couch. Hodgins immediately stood up and walked toward Booth, grabbing a hold of his arm. Hodgins didn't speak to him, but helped take on half of Booth's weight as they made it to the couch.

After a few minutes of silences, Booth was the first to break the silence.

"I…well…" This was harder that he thought. His eyes filled with tears. They were the first to know about his illness besides Parker, Brennan, Cullen, or Cam, and even though Angela and Hodgins were good friends of his, he found that it was much harder that he thought it would be. Hodgins saw Booth struggling with what he wanted to say and interrupted.

"It's ok Booth. You have cancer, right?" Booth looked to him and simply nodded. A soft smile of gratitude appeared on his lips as Brennan gave him a small cup with water.

"This can't be happening," Angela said while wiping the tears from her cheeks.

After taking a small sip, Booth began to explain everything to them, everything that had happened before and everything that had happened up until that point. Finished, he felt a heavy weight being lifted from his chest as Angela and Hodgins assured him that they would be there for him whenever he needed something, and Booth smiled in gratitude to them.

After spending about another hour with Angela and Hodgins, Brennan could see Booth's very haggard face and decided maybe it was time to get him back to rest. She excused herself and went over to Booth, whispering in his ear and he simply nodded at her. She helped him stand up, and he said, "Good night guys, I'm really tired so I'm going to head to bed."

Angela stood up and walked over him, giving him a huge hug. "Angela, I can't breathe," Booth whimpered when Angela was squeezing him so hard.

"Sorry," she said and released him.

Booth turned to Hodgins and he hesitated, "You might as well get it over with, this may be your only opportunity. They took my gun," Booth said and Brennan couldn't help but laugh as Hodgins stepped into Booth and they shared a guy hug.

"Night Booth," Hodgins said as he watched Brennan help him back to the bedroom.

After a few minutes, they saw Brennan come back out to them and she sat down next to Angela on the couch.

"Sweetie," Angela started.

"I'm fine, Ange," Brennan said. "Booth is the one who is sick, not me."

"Okay," Angela said. She knew Brennan needed her space. She knew she was okay as long as Booth would be okay.

"Booth was really sick today," Brennan said, "and there's nothing I can do about it." She rested her hands in her head and tears started to fall. "I know I can handle it, but I don't want him to give up."

Angela sat there and rubbed her back. "He won't, especially if he knows that you're here. He has something to live for. He always has, you two just never realized it. Imagine, it took cancer to make you two realize you were meant for each other," Angela laughed, making Brennan smile.

"Or made me realize. Booth has always known we were meant for each other."

They were silent for a few moments before Brennan said, "Hodgins, could you go buy me a television?"

"Well, that's a strange request," Hodgins said.

"It's not for me, it's for Booth," Brennan said as she went to her purse and gave him one of her credit cards. "I don't care how much it costs, and maybe one of those disc things, whatever they're called."

"DVD player?" Hodgins asked.

"That's a strange name," Brennan said and Hodgins smiled at Angela. "But yes, one of those so he can watch some movies or something."

"Sure," Hodgins said and took her card.

"We'll be back, sweetie. Take care of him," Angela said nodding to the bedroom.

"I will."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next few months were full of ups and downs for Brennan and Booth. Booth continued his chemotherapy, but with the medications Dr. Hincks prescribed, they seemed to help the side effects. The vomiting was much less frequent and he had regained a lot of his strength, but some days were really bad. When Booth would get sick, he often couldn't eat anything, nothing would stay in his system. On those days, Booth often became very dehydrated and had a hard time doing anything. The sick days were spent mostly in bed or in the bathroom on the floor. Most of the time, Booth didn't have the energy to go back and forth between the two.

Katie had also improved slightly. Brennan had taken it a step further and had requested to adopt Katie. The paperwork was taking a very long time to go through and whenever Brennan called they gave her many excuses as to why she wasn't even allowed to be a foster parent to Katie, but she still visited Katie nearly everyday. The doctors had given them extreme hope since Katie had beaten their odds. Like Booth, she had good days and bad days.

Brennan walked into Katie's room and saw the social worker who she had seen that day, who had upset her greatly and she turned to face Brennan.

"The adoption went through. She's yours," she said and Brennan was caught off-guard.

"Are you serious?" Brennan asked the woman, in disbelief.

"I care about Katie very deeply. I wanted to adopt her myself, but they wouldn't allow me. She's a wonderful, beautiful child. I figured that if I couldn't adopt her, no one could, but once you started visiting her everyday I figured that it would make her so happy to be with you. I put a rush on the paperwork."

"Thank you," Brennan said with tears in her eyes. "I care for Katie very much."

"I know. All you have to do is sign this, and you can take her home," the woman said. Brennan signed the paper quickly and turned to Katie who was asleep. She didn't want to wake her, but her happiness seemed to wake Katie instantly.

"Dr. Tempe," Katie said, fully awake.

"Hey kiddo," Brennan said to her, smoothing her hair back. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"They're letting me adopt you. I can take you home now," Brennan said excitedly.

"Really? Are you my new mommy?" she asked.

"If you want me to be," Brennan said, and Katie nodded eagerly.

"I really want you to be my mommy. And I want Booth to be my new daddy," Katie said.

"Really? We'll have to ask Booth about that, huh?" Brennan asked.

"Where is Booth?" Katie asked, "Why didn't he come to see me?"

"He wanted to, but he wasn't feeling very well, so he stayed home," she said, "I'll be right back, I'm going to go get some discharge papers and then we can go home."

Katie grinned at her as she stood up and when she got to the hallway she took out her phone and called Angela. She had started to visit Katie as well, and knew how much she meant to Brennan. She was also helping her fight for Katie.

"Hello," Angela answered on the first ring.

"Hey, Ange. I have good news," Brennan said, excitedly.

"Well, that's hard to come by these days," Angela said.

"The adoption went through. Katie is mine," Brennan said.

"Oh my God, Sweetie. That's amazing. I'm so happy for you," Angela said, nearly squealing.

"Thanks, I need a favor," Brennan said.

"I'm on my way," Angela said.

"How do you know what I was going to ask?" Brennan asked.

"You need things for Katie's room. I'm on it, Brennan," she said.

"Thank you."

Then she found a nurse and asked for discharge papers for Katie. She quickly signed them and watched as the doctors unhooked Katie from all of her machines. They went over care instructions for her and the schedule for her treatments. She would have to bring her to the hospital about once every week, but it was nothing Brennan couldn't handle, especially since Katie was improving.

She helped Katie get dressed and then grabbed her hand. Thankfully, Katie had regained much of her energy and she was able to walk on her own, although the hospital insisted that she exit in a wheelchair.

She helped Katie get into her car and she drove excited to her apartment. She couldn't wait to tell Booth that Katie was theirs. She hurried Katie into the apartment and gave her a tour of her apartment.

"It's so big," Katie said in awe of the apartment.

"Do you like it?" she asked her.

"Yes, do I get my own room, mommy?" Katie asked her.

"Of course, let me show you where," she said as she led her to the extra room. "It's empty right now, but Ange is buying you some things to put in here. Do you like it?"

"Yes, thank you," Katie said and Brennan kissed her cheek. "Where's Booth?"

"Stay right here, and I'll go get him," Brennan said and hurried to her bedroom. She opened the door slowly and silently and saw Booth lying up in bed, and he looked severely ill.

Brennan closed the door behind her and hurried to him, feeling his forehead. "Booth?" she asked as she felt the bed soaked in his sweat. The medicine had helped with that as well, but now something was really wrong. He hadn't had a single night sweat in months.

He looked completely out of it, he was totally altered, and he couldn't meet her eyes.

"Booth?" she asked and then she heard him begin to cough furiously, and she knew it was bad.

"Mommy," she hadn't heard the door open and turned to see Katie standing there in the doorway, her eyes wide.

"Katie, go into the other room, sweetie," she said as she moved Katie out of the room and hurried to the phone, dialing 911. She stayed with Katie as paramedics came and looked after Booth. They were taking him to the hospital, and she put Katie in the car and followed closely behind.

"Mommy, what's wrong with daddy?" she asked and Brennan looked in the rearview mirror with tears at the corner of her eyes.

She didn't want to lie to Katie, but she felt she didn't have a choice. "He's just going in for a check-up. He hasn't gone to the doctor for awhile, and they needed him to come in and get checked out."

"Just like me?" Katie asked.

"Yeah," Brennan said and was glad her answer had pacified her for the time being until they got to the hospital. She carried Katie in after Booth and she shielded Katie from where the doctors were working on Booth. She didn't need to see that right now. After awhile, she noticed Katie had simply fallen asleep as Dr. Hincks walked out to talk to her.

"Dr. Brennan, Mr. Booth is very sick. We believe it's pneumonia, but we won't know for sure until we run some tests. He is having a lot of respiratory problems, and he needs to stay isolated, and I'm afraid that we can't continue with the chemotherapy treatments until the pneumonia is completely cleared."

"How long?" Brennan asked.

"I'm not sure, we've already started him on antibiotics, and hopefully he'll be strong enough to fight it. Have faith Dr. Brennan," Dr. Hincks said once he saw her face drop.

"Can I see him?" she asked.

"Sure, I'm sorry you're going to have to wear a mask inside," he said as he took Katie from her and took a mask from him.

She walked in and sat next to Booth as most of the doctors and nurses left. He was sound asleep and she held his hand, massaging it.

"Everything was going so well," she said. "I'm so sorry, I've been preoccupied lately and I haven't been focused on you. I love you so much. You have to fight this, Booth. You have to. Katie needs a daddy," she said. "I need you."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Okay, so a lot of time is covered in this one chapter like…months lol. Just to prepare you all. Hopefully this will all be a payoff for you. I'm planning on continuing this, but we'll see how much further it will go. Thank you to all of you who continue to review and alert and all that awesome stuff, it's greatly appreciated! ENJOY and REVIEW!

Chapter 10:

Brennan had called Angela and she had come and picked Katie up and took her home, making sure that Angela knew Katie's routine. Brennan had decided to spend the night with Booth, his illness was getting worse, but the doctors said that was to be expected.

She hadn't explained much to Katie, she told her that Booth was having some side effects to his treatment, and that he would be in the hospital for a little while, like she had been. Katie was satisfied with that, and was upset that she wouldn't be able to visit Booth for awhile, but Brennan assured her that Booth would be back at home with them soon.

She was allowed to sit in the room with him as long as she had a mask and gloves on, something that she was used to and had no problem with. Dr. Hincks wasn't exactly pleased with the fact that she was spending the night, but she had insisted and there was no fighting with her at this point.

As she was starting to drift off she heard moaning coming from Booth. She opened her eyes, squinting at the bright lights in the room and hurried over to him. They had placed an oxygen mask over Booth's face so he could breathe a little bit easier.

She watched as Booth pulled the mask from his face and gasped a little, "Bones," he said coughing.

"You shouldn't talk right now," she said, placing the mask back on, and he was too exhausted to fight her, so he just looked at her, pleading with her to let him know what was going on. "You have pneumonia. They started you on antibiotics, but they haven't really started to work yet. You won't be able to start chemotherapy again until the pneumonia is completely gone. You need to rest," she said.

She saw his chest moving up and down pretty fast, watching him trying to catch his breath. She knew these were the symptoms of pneumonia, and there was nothing she could do to help him. He began coughing and lay back against the pillow, exhausted when he was finished.

She grabbed a hold of his hand, and smoothed another one through his hair.

"Sorry about the gloves, they made me do it," she said when he cringed at the touch of the latex. "I adopted Katie," she said and he looked to her, and she saw a touch of happiness in his eyes. "She wants you to be her daddy."

He pulled the mask away just long enough to say, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

She laughed as she continued sitting with him. A few minutes passed before realization hit her, she needed to go get Dr. Hincks so he could check on Booth.

"I'll be right back," she said, giving his hand a squeeze as he closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep again.

The next few days, Booth showed no signs of improvement. He continued to run a high fever and continued having trouble breathing and had a terrible cough. They continued the antibiotics, but nothing seemed to be helping him. He wasn't getting any worse, but he wasn't getting better either.

The one day he started to show signs of improvement, but he was still having difficulty. Everyone took it as a good sign. Everyone but Booth.

Brennan was finally allowed in the room without much protection and for that she was grateful. She was sitting next to Booth in silence when he finally spoke.

"Bones, I need to talk to you about something important."

"What?" she asked.

"It's something that we talked about awhile ago. I need to make a will."

"No you don't, Booth. You're going to be fine," she said, insistent.

"Bones, I have freaking pneumonia, and it took me this long to get this good. I could've died," Booth said sadly.

"But you didn't. So, we don't need to worry about it. You're going to be fine," Brennan said, clearly indicating she wanted to change the subject.

"I need to do this, Bones. Just let me do it," he said and tears stung at her eyes.

"Okay," she said. "What do you want to tell me?"

"You make all of my medical decisions, and I already talked to Rebecca she said she would allow you some visitation rights with Parker," he said.

"Okay," she said.

"I really wish I didn't have to put you through this. I know what a strain this puts on you," Booth said as he began to cry as well. "I don't want to do this to you anymore."

"I love you, it doesn't matter. As long as I have you," she said to him.

"But you may not have me," he said. "That's why I think I should move out."

"What? Why?" she asked him.

"You have Katie now. You need to take care of her, you shouldn't be wasting your time taking care of me," Booth said.

"Would you stop talking like that? I can handle it. I love you both. I'm not going to chose one of the other."

"Choose Katie. She's a kid, and she deserves to have a mother," Booth said to her. "You can't change my mind, Bones. It's best for Katie."

"But you're her father, doesn't she need you too?" Brennan asked, making a good point. "Besides, you're not well enough to be on your own."

"Okay. I'll stay, but you promise me that Katie comes first," Booth said.

"Katie comes first," Brennan told him. "I'm so scared, Booth. I can't lose you. I don't think that I'll be able to live effectively without you. It's always been you and me, we're a team. We're the center, without us…everything will fall apart. I can't help put murderers away without you."

"Temperance, you have learned so much from me. When we first started working together, you couldn't wait to get out of the lab, and you were pretty bad at interrogations, but now you can interrogate pretty much on your own. And you're a mother now. Did you ever see that coming?" Booth asked.

"No," she chuckled.

"You would be perfectly fine without me, I promise."

"Hopefully, it'll never come to that. I know of course, that you will die, but…hopefully not until you're elderly," Brennan said.

"Yeah, me too," Booth said laughing which quickly turned into a coughing fit. Brennan rubbed his back as he coughed for a few minutes, and afterwards he again fell asleep.

Booth remained in the hospital for two more weeks. After their conversation, Booth had a few more ups and downs, but nothing life-threatening and continued to improve ever since. He was pretty much back to normal except for a cough here and there, and Dr. Hincks had decided to start his chemotherapy treatments back up again.

After Booth left the hospital, Katie had undergone some tests and they determined that she was cancer free and was entering into remission. The doctors were amazed. She had been very close to death, and now she was back to being a normal kid.

After another few months of chemotherapy and radiation, Booth went in for another PET scan. That morning, Katie had started asking Brennan questions.

"Mommy, what's daddy going to the hospital for?" she asked, curiously.

"He has to go in for a test to see if his cancer is in remission," Brennan said.

"Oh," Katie said understanding. "Will daddy be sick anymore?"

"I hope not," Brennan said.

"Good, I don't like it when daddy is sick," Katie said.

"I don't like it when either of you are sick," Brennan smiled as she saw Booth coming out of the bedroom, with his hair sticking out in different directions, yawning slowly.

"Hi daddy," Katie said excitedly.

"Morning, princess," he said kissing her cheek and she giggled at the touch of his stubble. "Morning, Bones," he said going to kiss Bones cheek, but she stopped him.

"Not until you start practicing proper hygiene, like brushing your teeth and shaving," she said, pointing to the bathroom.

He hunched his shoulders and made a face at Katie, making her laugh as he made his way to the bathroom.

When he came back, Brennan allowed him to kiss her this time, approving of his use of hygiene.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked Katie, sitting next to her.

"Corn flakes and fruit," Katie said excitedly.

"Ugh, Bones…come on, I mean…corn flakes? Don't kids like Trix and stuff like that?" he asked her.

"She likes it," Brennan said defensively.

"Mommy, I can answer for myself, thank you," Katie said and Booth groaned.

"Another squint," he said, shaking his head.

"She needs to learn proper manners, Booth. She's doing very well. Go ahead, Katie."

"I like corn flakes and fruit. It's very nutritious and it will help build up my immune system," she said and Booth looked at Brennan incredulously.

"What? She didn't learn that from me," said defensively.

"No, Aunt Ange told me," Katie said proudly.

"Oh, well, I would like to have something sweet for breakfast."

"Booth, no, you're on a very strict diet. Oatmeal," she said.

"Ugh, Bones…I'm almost cancer free, come on," Booth groaned.

"Not yet, Booth. Oatmeal," she said strictly. "Now."

"Yes Daddy, oatmeal is also very nutritious and it will help build up your immune system," Katie said.

"Okay, you so taught her that," Booth said.

"I did not, I swear," Brennan said and he couldn't tell if she was lying or not. He turned around and started to make his oatmeal as Brennan and Katie high-fived each other behind his back.

Booth and Brennan listened as Katie babbled from the backseat during the ride to the hospital. They smiled as she entered her own childhood reality and they were so thankful to have her in their lives. Not only had she beaten incredible odds, but she had brought so much joy to their lives. Booth had decided that he would continue living with Brennan, even if he was cancer free, besides he had gotten out of his own lease months ago and moved out for good.

Booth also couldn't wait to get back to work. Once Katie had gone into remission, Brennan had gone back to work without him, leaving him and Katie alone. Booth was more than capable of taking care of himself and he needed to get to know Katie a little better.

Before Booth knew it, they arrived at the hospital and he left Brennan and Katie in the waiting room as he went in for the PET scan. It didn't take as long as last time, around 15 minutes, and Dr. Hincks had promised that he would look at the results right away.

Booth made his way out to where Brennan and Katie were engrossed in a conversation and picked Katie up, sitting her on his lap.

"Are you finished with your PET scan, Daddy?" Katie asked.

"Yes, Dr. Hincks will be out in a few minutes," Booth told her.

"Can we play a game?" she asked Booth.

Booth turned to Brennan and she nodded that it was okay, they were the only ones in the waiting area anyway.

"What do you want to play, sweetheart?" he asked her as she hopped off of his lap.

"I spy…" she said excited.

"Okay, you ready?" he asked her.

"Yep," she said.

"I spy with my little eye something green," Booth said.

"Mommy's shirt," Katie said and Booth made a face.

"You are really good at this game. Okay, your turn," Booth said but before Katie could spy anything, Dr. Hincks walked in. "Hold on, baby," he said as he grabbed a hold of Katie.

"So…" Booth said and Dr. Hincks smiled.

"You're in remission. We got it all. Hopefully it won't be back again," he said and Booth immediately broke into a grin and turned to Brennan who immediately pulled him into her arms.

"I'm so proud of you," she breathed into his ear. "You did it, Booth."

Booth let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding. He pulled away from Brennan with tears in both of their eyes and they laughed, wiping the tears away.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" Katie asked.

"I'm just happy, angel," he told her as he picked her up into his strong arms.

"You're in remission. Can we go home now?" she asked.

"Yeah. Home."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: This was the first chance I've gotten to write in days, so I'm taking advantage of it. Thank you to all of you who continue to alert, favorite and review this story. Don't worry, it's far from over. I was thinking about this being the first chapter of the sequel, but I just decided to continue it. I'm sorry it's so short, I apologize but the next chapter will make up for it I'm sure. I'm not sure when the next update will be, hopefully either tomorrow or Saturday but I can't guarantee anything. I hope you all ENJOY and REVIEW!

Chapter 11:

*A few months later*

Booth walked through the apartment and saw Brennan standing at the kitchen sink, washing dishes. Something she didn't do often, but she liked the chore, claiming it was very therapeutic. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning his chin on her shoulder.

"Hey," Brennan said, turning around and pecking his lips.

"What are ya doing?" Booth asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Brennan asked.

"Want some help?" Booth asked, showing her his charm smile.

"Sure," she said and handed him a towel. "Is she asleep?"

"Yeah, she zonked out. You wore her out at the lab today. She loves that place. I need to start bringing her to the bureau," Booth said.

"You just can't accept the fact that Katie shows more general interest in science than FBI skill and 'gut feelings'," Brennan said and Booth glared at her.

"Fine, she can play with Hodgins' beetles every once in awhile, but I draw the line when she starts playing with really gross things like poo and ugh…" he said and Brennan turned to combat him.

"What if it's for education purposes?" Brennan asked.

"Bones, she's almost 5 years old, what little girl loves playing in excrement?" he asked.

Brennan turned away after seeing his point, "Don't tell me you played in poo," he said laughing. "Cuz that would be hilarious."

"I never played IN it, just…fine, she won't play in poo," Brennan said as she went back to the dishes.

"And we have to finish planning the party," Booth said, "we have a very excited almost-five-year-old on our hands."

"You have more experience at this kind of thing than I do, you should be planning the party," Brennan said.

"I have never planned a party in my life. Just because I have Parker doesn't mean I ever planned any birthday parties," Booth said.

"Fine, I'll just call Angela, she should be able to help," Brennan said as she finished rinsing all of the dishes and grabbing her phone.

Angela hurried over quickly, excited that she was getting to plan something. She nearly squealed as Brennan opened the door.

"I'm so excited," Angela said as she hugged Brennan and then went to hug Booth.

"Couldn't tell," Booth said as she released him and sat down.

"Ange, you have to be quiet. Katie is asleep," Brennan said.

"Okay," Angela said whispering. "Let's get started."

It took nearly two hours to get some information out of Booth and Brennan, they didn't have anything in mind. They didn't know when to have the party, what to do at the party, they didn't even know what kind of food to have at the party. Angela assured them that she would take care of everything and all they would have to do was show up at the party with Katie.

Brennan was brushing her teeth in the bathroom while Booth crawled into bed. She walked over to him in a black cami and a pair of shorts. She crawled in beside him and kissed him soundly on the lips as she settled in.

"I love you," she said and he smiled at her.

"You don't say that very often, what's the occasion?" Booth asked.

"No occasion. I just … felt like saying it," she said.

"Wow. I love you too," he said and kissed her again. Before he got too carried away, she had stopped his hand that was crawling up the back of her shirt. "I'm sorry, I would really love to, but I'm really tired."

"That's okay. I understand," he said and smiled at her as they both lowered their heads to their pillows. "Bones, you know I love you. And I know your position on marriage and it's an antiquated ritual and there's some anthropological study or something, but I was wondering if you would consider it," he said and he looked over and saw that she was sound asleep. He smiled as he watched her for a moment before he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night."

The next morning Booth awoke to an empty bed and could smell breakfast floating from the kitchen. He opened his eyes slowly and they adjusted to the bright light flowing in from the window. He looked to the foot of the bed where he felt weight on his legs.

"Morning Daddy," Katie said brightly as Booth closed his eyes and reached for her. She went and laid down next to him and she giggled as he tickled her.

"Morning princess," he said. "How are you? Did you take your medicine this morning?"

"Yes. Daddy when will I be able to stop taking medicine?" she asked and his heart broke a little bit.

"Well, I don't know. It could be a long time or not."

"How about tomorrow?" she asked.

"I don't think so. I don't think your doctor would appreciate that," Booth said. "Daddy takes his medicine too. You didn't wait for me this morning."

"Mommy made me take it early so that we could go to the lab," she said and Booth made a face.

"She did, huh?" he asked as he picked her up and put her in his lap. She nodded. "Well, I will just have to talk to Mommy bout that. You go get changed, I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay," She said as she hopped off of the bed and went into her bedroom. Once she was out of sight Booth closed the bedroom door. Picking up his jacket, he reached into the pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills. Tylenol with Codeine. It wasn't really prescribed to him anymore, but he still complained of pain just so he could get the pills. He headed into the bathroom to perform his morning routine before he took two of the pills along with his other medicines. He heard a knock on the door as he swallowed the rest of his pills.

"Booth? Are you okay?" she asked through the door.

"Fine, I'll be out in a minute," he said through the door as he pulled a shirt over his head.

"Okay. Breakfast is finished," she said. Brennan didn't normally cook for him at all, it was a pretty much fend for yourself these days, but every Saturday morning she would make breakfast for him and Katie. Blueberry pancakes were his favorite.

He looked into the mirror and began to hate what he saw. He couldn't believe he had let himself fall into the trap. No one knew, but it was slowly becoming apparent as his behavior began to change. Even Katie had noticed it. He took a deep breath and splashed his face with water before patting it dry with a towel and walking out of the bathroom.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry it's taken me another couple of days to update, I've been extremely busy. But after this week, you should expect updates more often. As for last chapter, reviews were lacking and I was a tad disappointed. So I apologize if some of you don't like this anymore, but I would still like reviews, they're so encouraging and they also help get the next chapter up much quicker! Anyway, this chapter is full of Brennan/Katie goodness, Booth/Katie goodness, and some good old B/B angst along with some minor fluff. So I hope you all enjoy and please REVIEW! The button is right there, just hit it and take a minute to write a little something! Thanks!

Chapter 12:

Katie's party was being held at Hodgins' house. He and Angela both insisted upon it. Angela had insisted on decorating for the party, and all that Booth and Brennan had to do was bring Katie. Which was fine by them, they enjoyed spending most of the day with Katie.

Booth and Brennan were both lying in bed asleep when the door creaked open. Katie peeked in and saw her parents lying there and tip toed into the room, watching them sleep. Then she jumped onto the bed, mainly on Booth's legs which jolted him awake.

"Hey monkey," he said sleepily as he squinted at her and turned back into his pillow.

"Daddy, guess what?" she leaned down next to his ear and whispered.

"What?" Booth mumbled.

"It's my birthday!" she yelled loud enough to finally wake Brennan.

"Katie, what are you doing awake? It's 4:30," Brennan said sleepily.

"Mommy, it's my birthday!" she said again excitedly.

"Yeah, I know, and your party isn't until 3 so why don't you get some more sleep?" Brennan asked, rolling back over.

"Daddy," she whispered into his ear just as he had fallen back asleep.

"Hm," he said.

"Get up," she said into his ear loudly.

He sat straight up, his eyes wide. "Katie, that's not nice. Haven't we talked about manners especially about making people go deaf by screaming at them while they're asleep?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry daddy, but can you pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee wake up?" she asked.

"Tell you what," he said pulling her into his lap, "you can go out and watch cartoons for a little bit and then I'll be out. Deal?"

"Okay," she said as they shook hands.

"All right, give me a kiss," Booth said as Katie leaned in and kissed his lips and he rubbed her face with his scruff.

"Daddy!" She squealed until he stopped, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek and set her on the floor. "I don't like the scruff," she said before leaving.

"Neither do I," Brennan mumbled as she faced away from Booth.

Booth laid down and wrapped his arms around her. She sighed as she settled into his arms.

"You shouldn't spoil her like that," Brennan said as she continued to keep her eyes closed.

"Oh come on. The girl needs to be spoiled every once in awhile," Booth said.

"It builds character," Brennan said and Booth admitted defeat. "It's going to be a long day, isn't it?" she asked him.

"Very," he mumbled, "better get back to sleep," he said and listened to her breathing settle back into a deep sleep. "I love you," he said, kissing her neck before getting out of bed, grabbing his jacked and heading into the bathroom.

He couldn't fall back to sleep after that so he settled in with Katie on the couch, watching cartoons until he heard Brennan in the bedroom. She came out all showered and ready for the day.

"Morning Bones," Booth said from the couch, a sleeping Katie beside him.

"She fell back asleep?" she asked.

"Yeah, her excitement got to be too much I guess," he said as he smoothed Katie's hair from her forehead.

"You look beautiful," he told her.

"Booth, I'm hardly presentable. My hair is wet and my make up is less than satisfactory," she said to him as he stood up and made his way over to her.

"Mmm, I love it when you talk dirty," he said and she smiled. He leaned in and captured her lips. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, deepening the kiss. "But just so you know, you look beautiful all the time."

"Thanks, but that's usually not possible," she said.

"Ugh, Bones, can you just take a complement for once in your life?" he said, his voice much stronger than he wanted it to be.

She pulled away from him and looked at him strangely, "Why are you angry at me, Booth? You don't have to yell at me just because I didn't even realize what you were saying was a complement," she said and walked away.

He put his head down and took a deep breath before turning to face her.

She was doing some things in the tiny kitchen area before he walked over and leaned on the island.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why are you acting so different? I'm starting to think you have some mental disorder. One minute you're joking and all loving and the next you're mean and insulting," she said as she began organizing a cabinet.

"I don't know why," he said, "maybe it's the medications. They can have some effects on moods. I really am sorry, I didn't mean to blow up at you," he said to her and she looked to him, knowing he really meant it.

"I accept your apology," she said. "Maybe Dr. Hincks should adjust your medications," she suggested and he immediately answered "No!"

She looked at him surprised by his quick answer and stood there confused.

"I mean, they seem to be working. I don't want to switch medications and have weird side effects and have to switch back," he said and she looked at him, nodding.

"Oh," she answered. There was an awkward silence between the two and Booth was the first to say something.

"I guess I'll go get ready," he said as he turned toward the bathroom, heading to the shower.

She watched as he closed the door and once she heard the water turn on she headed into the bathroom. She began rifling through drawers in search of something, anything. She looked everywhere. Under the bed, in the closet, in his shoes, and found nothing. It was then that she saw his jacket draped over the chair in the corner of the room. She slowly walked over to it, picking it up. She put her hand in one of the pockets and found nothing. Discouraged, she checked the other pocket and deep in the pocket she felt a bottle. She pulled it out and looked at it. It was Tylenol with Codeine that Dr. Hincks had been prescribing him, but it was more than the dosage prescribed. She was confused, and as she heard the water turn off, she quickly put it back into his pocket and hurried from the room.

She closed the bedroom door behind her and took a few deep breaths. She wasn't sure what it meant yet, but she was definitely going to figure out, but first it was Katie's birthday, and she wasn't going to ruin it just because she had made a simple assumption.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A lot of people were at Katie's party including children whom she had remained friends with after leaving the hospital and her doctors. They all were happy to see her so well.

Brennan had a smile on her face the entire time, even when her thoughts turned to Booth she put a smile on her face. She had to for Katie. She hadn't spoken much to Booth, and he didn't seem he was in the mood to speak to her either. She figured he must think that she was still mad at him. Truth was she wasn't just mad she was livid, furious. She needed an explanation.

Angela pulled her aside and began to question her.

"Okay, what is wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing is wrong. Why would something be wrong?" Brennan asked her as she grabbed a carrot off of the vegetable tray and popped it into her mouth.

"You are talking way too fast and your popping carrots like candy. What are you nervous about?" Angela asked and then a realization hit her. "OH! MY! GOD! Booth is going to propose isn't he? Oh sweetie, I'm so happy for you. You have to give me all the details and of course take pictures of the ring and send them to me and…"

Brennan interrupted her, "Ange. Ange. Booth isn't going to propose. I don't believe in engagement or marriage, it's very archaic," she said and Angela just sighed.

"Oh," Angela said, "well why else are you nervous?"

"I'm not. I'm just really happy. Seeing Katie so happy," Brennan said, "I never knew I could feel this way about another individual. I love her so much. I want to give her everything. Everything that I never had," she said as she looked out at the patio from where she stood in the doorway. Katie had a party hat on and was laughing with Booth and Hodgins. She looked so happy and Brennan couldn't help but smile.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry, but I know you too well. I know you're happy for Katie, but you're not really happy," Angela said.

"What? Yes I am," Brennan said.

"No, you're not. Something is wrong, why won't you just tell me?"

"I can't talk about it, Ange. I promise I'm okay," she said before touching Angela's arm as a sign of reassurance and walked back outside to where Katie was and wrapped her arms around her, giving her a big kiss on the cheek while Angela looked on sadly.

Booth took Katie home while Brennan helped Angela and Hodgins clean up. It was the least she could do after Angela had planned the whole thing and they even hosted the party for them.

She made it home in time to see Katie sitting on the couch with some of her gifts with Finding Nemo on the television.

"Hey," Brennan said as she walked in and gave Katie a hug. "Where's Daddy?" she asked.

"In the shower," Katie said as she played with a new doll.

Brennan found this odd since he had taken a shower that morning. She cleared her throat and leaned down to Katie's level.

"It's time for bed, goober. Take these toys into your room and find a place for them and then I want you to get changed and brush your teeth. I'll be in in a minute," she said.

"Okay Mommy," Katie said as she picked up as many toys as she could without dropping any and headed into her room.

Brennan cleaned up around the apartment for a few minutes before she heard Katie tell her that she was ready to be tucked in.

Brennan began their bedtime routine which consisted of a conversation about their day.

"What was your favorite part of today?" Brennan asked her.

"My favorite part was when Uncle Jack and Aunt Angie got into a cake fight," Katie giggled and Brennan laughed along with her. "What was your favorite part, Mommy?"

"My favorite part was when you made a wish and you blew out your birthday candles," Brennan said as she leaned her forehead against Katie's. "What wish did you make?"

"Mommy, I can't tell," Katie said defensively, pulling away from Brennan.

"It shouldn't be a secret," Brennan said and thought about telling her that wishes didn't come true anyway, but she held back.

"Mommy. I can't. Tell. You," Katie said. "It's a secret. Between me and Daddy," she said and covered her mouth quickly with her hands.

"What? Booth knows?" Brennan asked.

"No," Katie said and Brennan accepted her answer.

"Okay, well, I hope it comes true," Brennan said and they began another nightly ritual. A staring contest.

There was complete silence as they completed until Katie started to try to distract Brennan, eventually Brennan blinked.

"You blinked, Mommy," Katie pointed out.

"I did," she said and laughed. She didn't believe in letting a child win simply because they were a child, what did that teach them? Katie always won fair and square. "Okay, covers?" she asked as she lifted the covers for her to get in.

"Can't we wait for Daddy? He always tucks me in every night," Katie said. "And he reads me a story, and he always does those funny voices."

"Daddy can't read you a story tonight. I can read you a story though," Brennan said.

"I want Daddy to do it. He always does it. I want Daddy," Katie said and Brennan gave her a stern look.

"Katie, what have I told you about whining and complaining?" Brennan asked.

"Sorry Mommy. Can you read me the princess story?" she asked, pointing to a specific book on the shelf. "It's my favorite. Daddy reads it every night."

"Okay," Brennan said as she grabbed the book and tried her best to read in the voices that Katie liked, but she couldn't compare to Booth.

"Thank you Mommy," Katie said once they were finished.

"You're welcome," Brennan said as she put the book back in its place and then she turned back to Katie. "Time for bed. Covers?" Brennan asked as she pulled back her pink comforter.

Katie climbed in and got settled and Brennan tucked her in tightly. "Good?"

"Yes," Katie said as Brennan turned on her night light and kissed her on the head.

"Good night Goober," Brennan said as she made her way to the door and turned out her light. She smiled as Katie closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. She closed the door quietly and still heard the water running in the shower.

She made her way into their bedroom and found the jacket now on the bed. She searched the pockets and found the pill bottle again. Earlier that morning, she had done a quick count of the pills in her head, and noticed that 6 more were missing.

She heard the water turn off and she grabbed the bottle and sat on the chair, waiting for Booth to come out of the bathroom.

He opened the door and started to gather clothes to change into. Brennan cleared her throat and he turned to face her.

"Hey Bones, you're home," he said excitedly and noticed that she did not have a happy expression on her face. "Uh oh. What did I do now?" he asked and she pulled out the bottle and showed it to him. His expression changed very quickly and his face grew stern. His jaw was set and he just turned away from her, afraid to even face her.

"Would you care to explain this?" Brennan asked rather calmly which surprised her with the amount of fury that raged within her.

"Dr. Hincks prescribed it to me. It's my normal medicine," Booth explained.

"Really? Do you think I'm stupid? I looked at the label. This is over twice the dose that he prescribed for you. He's been trying to get you off this medication for months," Brennan said angrily and she stood up to him face-to-face.

"I'm in a lot of pain. He said it was okay," Booth said.

"Stop lying to me!" she yelled and Booth shhhed her.

"Don't wake up Katie," Booth said and she calmed down slightly. "I can explain."

"You better have a damn good explanation," Brennan said.

"I went to see him the other day while I had a break. I was in a lot of pain. He increased the dosage," Booth said.

Brennan looked him in the eye and she couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but she chose to believe him. She didn't have any reliable facts to base any of her assumptions.

"There's 8 more pills missing. How many are you taking?" she asked, showing him the pills.

"Two every couple of hours, sometimes three depending on how bad the pain is," Booth said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brennan asked him.

"I don't know. It was so close to Katie's birthday and I didn't want to ruin things. I knew you wanted me to get off the medications, but I need it," Booth said.

"Do you need it or do you just want it?" Brennan asked.

"What?" Booth asked, confused.

"Are you addicted to these pills? It wouldn't be uncommon. Codeine is an extremely addicting narcotic. It would be okay, Booth. No one would judge you," she said and Booth took offense.

"You think I'm addicted to a narcotic? Are you serious?" Booth asked her.

"I don't know what to think anymore. You're like a totally different person half the time," Brennan yelled, matching his tone.

"Bones, trust me. I'm not addicted. As soon as the pain goes away, I'll be off the medication," Booth said as he came closer to her.

"Isn't there another medication you can try that will help the pain?" she asked.

"I'll go to Dr. Hincks tomorrow and ask," Booth said.

"Thank you," Brennan said as Booth drew her into his arms in a hug.

"I love you, Bones. I'll do anything for you," he said.

"I know you would. I love you too."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Another angsty chapter. I know that a lot of this is totally out of Booth's character, but let's just pretend that for once he's human lol. Anyway, I promise if you stick with this things get MUCH better! So Enjoy and REVIEW please!

Chapter 13:

Booth walked through the hospital to the office he had seen too often. He was really tired of it. He knocked on the door and Dr. Hincks seemed surprised to see him and greeted him with a smile.

"Please have a seat, Agent Booth," Dr. Hincks said and Booth sat down nervously. "Is there something you would like to discuss with me or is this just an informal visit?"

"Oh, I just wanted you to know that a lot of my pain has gone away, I don't think I'll be needed the Tylenol with codeine anymore," Booth said.

"Really?" Dr. Hincks asked. "The last time you were here you were practically begging me for it."

"Yeah, it's really helped, I don't think it's necessary anymore," Booth said.

"Okay. We'll stop the Codeine, but if the pain returns just let me know and we can get you started on something."

"Thanks," Booth said standing and shaking Dr. Hincks hand. He left the office and began to sweat. He wiped at the drops on his forehead and knew it was the effects of not taking the Codeine. He definitely needed it, but he had to keep his promise to Bones. He couldn't lose her.

He headed to his car and sat there thinking for a few minutes before he drove the normal route to the lab.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hodgins, I need this analyzed as soon as possible," Cam said as she handed him some goop in a jar.

"I'll get on it," Hodgins said and as Cam made it back to her office she saw Booth sitting there.

"Hi Booth. Brennan's not here," Cam said as she began organizing some things on her desk.

"I know. I didn't come here to see her," Booth said.

"Then why are you here?" she asked.

"I need a favor," Booth said. "Dr. Hincks took me off the Codeine a few weeks ago, and I've been okay, and I really don't want to go back to the doctor and start all of that again, so could you write me a script for something?" he asked.

"Booth, I'm not a medical doctor," Cam said defensively. "Just go to Dr. Hincks I'm sure he'll understand."

Booth started to get angry. He took a few deep breaths to keep control. "Cam, I really can't go back there. You know how much I hate hospitals. Please," he said bringing his head close to hers so she could see the agony in his eyes.

"How bad is your pain?" she asked as she pulled out a tablet.

"Bad enough for me to be asking," he said and she nodded and started to write.

"Here, Codeine," she said and handed him the slip of paper and he smiled at her, thanked her and started to walk away. "Booth, be careful. Codeine can be extremely addictive."

"Don't worry," he said and gave her his charm smile which she returned with one of her own.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Bones," he called as he walked through the front door. "Where are you?"

She walked out of Katie's room and she looked like she had been through hell and back.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately seeing a worried expression on her face.

"She's really sick. She's vomiting. I don't know what's wrong," she said and Booth followed her into the room.

Seeing Katie made his heart break. He walked over to her and began to push the hair away from her face. Katie was sweating profusely and still managed to have a high fever. Katie looked up into his eyes and said, "Hi Daddy."

"Hey sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay," he said and watched as her eyes began to roll back into her head.

"Katie?" Brennan asked, trying to shake her awake.

"Katie. Baby," Booth said, trying to wake her. When they were unsuccessful Booth picked her up into his arms and hurried toward the front door. Brennan didn't say anything, just followed behind him.

Booth drove as fast as he could to the hospital. He wouldn't lose Katie. He didn't know what was wrong; he just knew that she was really sick. She needed help.

He carried her into the emergency and explained to a nurse what was going on. She called to someone and a bunch of doctors came rushing out and took her from his arms.

They laid her down on a gurney and immediately rolled her to a private room where they began to assess her mysterious illness.

Someone had come out to talk to Booth and Brennan about her previous medical history. They told the doctors everything they knew about Katie and hoped that would help. They wouldn't really know anything until tests came back.

"What medications is she on?" the doctor asked.

Brennan kept detailed records of Katie's medical information and handed it to him. He looked over the list and nodded.

"Are there any other medications in the home?" he asked.

"I'm on some medications. Tylenol with Codeine and some other medications," Booth said.

"Is it possible that these medications could have gotten mixed up?" the doctor asked.

"No chance at all," Brennan said.

"I think she took something," the doctor said. "We're going to have to pump her stomach to find out what it is. For now, she's still unconscious. It's best if you wait out here."

Brennan looked at Booth with fury in her eyes.

"What?" Booth asked her.

"Did you give them to her?" she asked.

"What? No. After we talked last night, I got rid of the pills. They're in the trash. Katie doesn't go through the trash Bones," he said defensively.

"Then what did she take? Where did she get them?" she asked, sobs starting to form.

"I don't know," he said as he leaned forward and caught her in his arms before she fell to the floor sobbing. "It's going to be okay," he said as tears started to roll from his own eyes and he rubbed her back.

He looked in at his daughter sadly as he watched them pump Katie's stomach. She looked lifeless and most of all helpless. He needed to know what she took, and when she woke up he wanted to be the first one she saw.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Mr. Booth, Ms. Brennan," the doctor said and Brennan didn't even take the time to correct him. "We pumped her stomach, and she seems to be okay. Her fever is dropping and she should be regaining consciousness soon."

"Do you know what she took?" Brennan asked him.

"The tests show that it was Codeine," the doctor said.

"My medication?" Booth asked, not believing what the doctor said.

"It's very common for household medications to get mixed together. She could have simply taken them thinking they were for her," the doctor said.

"No!" Booth exploded. "She doesn't have access to my medication!" Booth yelled and he sensed everyone looking at him, including Brennan. "Sorry. She doesn't even know where my medications are."

"Well, that was the drug in her system causing the overdose. Somehow she got a hold of them."

That was all Brennan needed to hear as she grew angry and stalked away from Booth. He turned to her and followed her quickly.

"Bones," he said grabbing her arm and turning her around to face him, but she couldn't look him in the eye.

"Where did she get them, Booth?" Brennan asked.

"I don't know. You'd have to ask Katie that. I didn't leave them anywhere, I swear," Booth said. "Bones, you have to believe me."

"I don't think I can trust anything you say or do anymore," Brennan said as she walked back toward Katie's room, struggling to get away from his grasp. He finally just let her go and watched as she sat next to Katie, holding her hand.

Booth sat outside of the room since Brennan wouldn't let him inside, and he knew that she wouldn't leave. He stood up every once in awhile to stretch his legs and peered in and the one time he stood up he saw Brennan sleeping soundly and he saw Katie's eyes start to flutter open.

He walked in quickly and went to her side.

"Hey princess," he said as he began stroking the sides of her face. They had put a tube down her throat to help her breathe, so she couldn't say anything and he saw a scared look in her eyes.

"It's okay baby," he said to her. "Daddy's here. You're okay," he said and saw her relax a little as she reached for his hand. "Mommy's here too. Let me go get the doctor."

He started to pull away, but he felt her tug on his hand to keep him there. He once again saw her frightened eyes and he couldn't leave. Without leaving her side he woke Brennan up and she immediately glared at him before he gestured toward Katie.

Katie reached out and Brennan took her other hand. "Go get the doctor," Brennan said harshly to Booth and as he started to go, he felt Katie tug his hand again to keep him there. Booth just looked at Brennan apologetically as she put Katie's hand down gently and hurried off to find her doctor.

Booth leaned down close to Katie's ear and whispered reassurances to her until the doctor came in. It was painful watching him take the tube out of Katie's throat and winced as she began coughing. She seemed perfectly normal, like no damage had been done.

"Katie, I have to ask you some questions, okay? You two need to leave," he said turning to Booth and Brennan.

"No," Katie whimpered, clinging to Booth.

"We'll just be outside, baby. You can see us right through that window," Booth said pointing toward the door and she nodded. Booth kissed her forehead and he watched as Brennan did the same before they both left.

"Bones, listen…" Booth started.

"I can't speak to you right now," Brennan said.

"Bones, you can't believe that I would GIVE Katie medicine," Booth said.

"No, I know you would never do anything to hurt her. I know that. But it was your fault it was in the apartment in the first place," Brennan said.

"I don't know how she got it, but she did. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it wasn't, but at least she's going to be okay," Booth said. "It could've been much worse."

"If you are in any way responsible for this, you are gone. Do you understand?" Brennan asked and Booth had never been so intimidated by her before.

"Yes," he answered simply and they stood there in silence until the doctor waved them both back into the room.

The doctor left and Booth and Brennan sat down beside her.

"Katie, what happened?" Brennan asked her. "What did you take?"

"I thought they were candy," Katie said. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I was playing in your room while you were in the shower this morning, and I wanted to play dress up so I took daddy's coat and daddy always has candy and they were in his pocket. So I took them. Are you mad at me?"

"Of course not sweetheart," Booth said to her. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Booth, can I talk to you, please?" Brennan asked angrily as she stormed out of the room.

"We'll be right back," Booth said and followed after Brennan.

"You said you threw them away," Brennan nearly yelled at him.

"I was going to throw them away. I swear…" Brennan cut him off.

"You lied to me!" Brennan shouted. "You've never lied to me, Booth. I think you should move out."

"Bones, no."

"It's for the best. I don't want you around Katie anymore," Brennan said bluntly.

"Bones…please," Booth said.

"I know you care about Katie, but I can't have you around her anymore," Brennan said as she started to walk back into Katie's room, but Booth grabbed her.

"I love you. I can't just leave you alone."

"I can't be with you if I can't trust you, Booth. I'm sorry," she said starting to cry.

"It's over. I went to Dr. Hincks today, I'm off the medication. You just need to give me a chance," Booth said.

"You're an addict, Booth. You need help. And with Katie, I can't give it to you," Brennan said and walked into Katie's room.

This time Booth let her go. He walked through the hallway and took out the script that Cam had written for him. Thinking of Katie and what he had somehow caused, he tore the script. He needed to get his life back together. He didn't know how, but he was going to do it.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry it took me a little longer to update, I had no motivation, and I really don't like this chapter, but hopefully the next one will be better. Enjoy and review!

Chapter 14:

Brennan didn't return to the apartment until days later when she returned home with Katie. She had made a full recovery and was ready to come home. Brennan walked in the door hand in hand with Katie and noticed that the apartment seemed empty somehow. She hadn't seen Booth since she had told him to move out. And she had been so worried about Katie that she hadn't even realized that she didn't care if she spoke to him. She still cared about him of course and hoped that he was okay, but Katie was her main priority.

She got Katie settled into her bed and wandered out. She noticed that Booth's things were gone, and it made her sad and angry at the same time. For one thing, he had listened to her. He was always a strong, stubborn individual and would fight her on many things, often giving up in the end, but he didn't fight her much on her decision.

She found a note on her kitchen table and read it quickly before throwing it into the trash. She plopped down into a chair and put her head in her hands, exhaling deeply. She hadn't told Katie about Booth. She hoped that she would never have to explain it to Katie, but she knew that she would have to. Booth had promised that he would never leave her, and even though she had made him, he still left. 'He wasn't supposed to leave,' she thought as began to crying. She dragged herself into her bedroom, grabbing Booth's pillow. It still smelled like him. She pulled it close and cried herself to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What are you thinking about?" he heard her ask from behind him as he sat at the table.

"Nothing," he answered, turning to smile at her. "Thinking of how I can repay you for letting me stay here."

"It's not a problem, Booth, really," Cam said as she sat down next to him. "It's a shame…"

"I don't want to talk about it, Cam," he said.

"Are you in pain again?" she asked him.

"No," he said, even though he was. After tearing up the prescription, he seriously thought about asking for it again. He stopped taking the Codeine cold turkey, and after packing up his things and leaving the apartment, he went to Cam and told her everything. About Katie, about lying about the drugs, Brennan asking him to leave, his addiction. He asked for her help, and she had taken him in.

Cam told him withdraw was going to be hell. And it was. The first two days were horrible. He was wracked with nausea, tremors, and every other withdraw symptom there was. At times, he begged Cam to give him something, anything, to make him feel better. She didn't, and he was better for it.

"You're in pain. Take some Advil," Cam said as she sipped coffee.

"I don't need it," Booth snapped, loudly. "Sorry. I don't want anything, Cam. I deserve the pain. After what happened to Katie. How could I have let it go this far?" he asked her with tears in his eyes.

"You're human. It happens to a lot of people. You're not the only one, trust me. You should go talk to her."

"I can't. Not yet. I need to be completely better before she sees me again. God, Cam, I really screwed up."

"Yeah, you did," she said bluntly.

"Thanks. I was the only person I think she truly trusts, and I just threw all of that away. She won't ever trust me again."

"Sure she will," Cam said.

"You can't know that," Booth said.

"Now you sound like Brennan," Cam said, laughing. "She will because she loves you. That's how I know."

"I don't think I trust myself anymore," Booth said.

"Maybe you should talk to Sweets," Cam suggested.

"What? Talk to Sweets?"

"Yes, he is a trained psychologist you know. Maybe he can help you with some therapy."

Booth just groaned.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Katie slipped into Brennan's room and found her still sound asleep. She got an idea and ran out to the kitchen. She dragged a chair over to the counter and went to work.

After she was finished she carefully carried her handiwork into Brennan's room and yelled, "Surprise!" waking Brennan instantly.

She let out a breath and looked at Katie and smiled. On a tray was a glass half full with orange juice, the other half was laying on the tray and a bowl of her favorite oatmeal.

"I made this for you Mommy. Because you're the best Mommy in the world," Katie said and tears gathered in Brennan's eyes.

"Thanks, Goober," Brennan said as she took the tray from Katie and set it on the nightstand so she could hug Katie and pull her up onto the bed with her. "I love you."

After a few moments of silence sitting there together, Katie asked, "Where's Daddy?"

Brennan turned away to gain her composure. She knew this would be coming. Children ask many questions, and she knew that Katie would ask eventually.

"Why didn't he come to see me?" she asked.

"Katie, I'm very comfortable with honesty. So I'm going to tell you the truth," Brennan said taking a deep breath. "Daddy doesn't live here anymore."

"Why?" Katie asked.

"Daddy has a problem that he has to fix before he can see you again. It might take him awhile, and it will be hard, but he can't see you until he's better," Brennan explained.

"What's wrong with Daddy?" Katie asked. It was getting harder for Brennan to explain, without actually explaining in full.

"Daddy needs help. Some of his medications aren't helping him and they aren't good for him and he shouldn't be taking them, but he does. And he needs help with that, okay?" Brennan asked hoping she would leave it at that.

"When will he be back?" Katie asked.

"I don't know, sweetheart," Brennan said, "but I know that he loves you." She pulled Katie closer to her side.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Just call her," Cam said from behind her magazine and she glanced up and saw Booth pacing continuously in front of her.

"She probably won't even pick up," Booth said.

"I don't understand you. It's been about two weeks since you've been of the Codeine and you're fine. You still need some help, but you're pretty much okay on your own now. She'll understand that, Seeley," Cam said.

"I can't do it," he said and sat down on the chair across from her.

"What are you so afraid of?" Cam asked him. "You're not afraid of anything."

"Not true," Booth said. "Bones can be pretty scary."

"The worst thing that can happen is that she doesn't answer. If she doesn't, leave a voice mail. If you don't hear back from her, go over to her place. It shouldn't be that difficult."

"That's easy for you to say, you're not the one who has to do it," Booth said.

"Do you need me to dial for you?" Cam asked. "Sometimes that's the hardest part," she laughed. "Think about Katie. She has to miss you."

Booth looked at her and then speed-dialed Brennan.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brennan was at the park with Katie and Angela when her phone rang. She looked down and saw that it was Booth. In the two weeks that she had waited for him to call her, now that he had she couldn't bring herself to pick up the phone. She stared at her phone for a few more seconds before turning the ring off. For whatever reason, she still wasn't quite ready to speak to him. And she partly blamed herself. For one thing, she should've noticed that Booth was behaving differently. She should've known that he was lying to her the entire time. She also knew that what happened to Katie wasn't his fault.

But most of all she blamed herself for not helping him. She was perfectly capable of taking care of him and she should've been willing to help him through whatever he was going through. But maybe, she thought, it was for the best.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Angela asking who had called her.

"Nobody," Brennan replied as she went back to pushing Katie on a swing.

"Brennan, was that Booth?" she asked.

"How did you know?" Brennan asked.

"You're not that hard to read. You were having a good time until you looked at your phone," Angela said. She watched as Brennan's continued to look toward her feet. "Why didn't you answer?"

"I don't want to talk to him, Angela," Brennan said.

"Well, that's a lie. Everyone can tell that you've been miserable without him. I mean, aren't you worried about him, you don't even know where he is," Angela pointed out.

"I care. I just can't talk to him right now," Brennan said.

"I know where he is," Angela said, "if you wanna know. He's with Cam," she said without waiting for an answer from Brennan.

"Good, I hope she's helping him with his addiction," Brennan said.

"Oh please. He doesn't want to be with Cam, he wants to be with you," Angela said. "I talked to him."

"Angela," Brennan scolded.

"I know you told me not to, but he's doing really good Bren. And I know that he wouldn't have called you if he wasn't. Booth knows you need time and he wouldn't have called if he was ready to talk to you."

"But I'm not ready, Ange," Brennan said.

"I'm not going to e able to change your mind, am I?" Angela asked.

"No, so let's just change the subject," Brennan said. "Katie, how about some ice cream?" she asked, stopping the swing.

"Yeah!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Booth continued to call every day, several times a day and Brennan never picked up. She wanted to, but she still didn't really want to face speaking to him. She missed him and craved the sound of his voice, to feel his touch, but for whatever reason she couldn't bring herself to pick up the phone.

She had just put Katie to bed and started to work on a chapter of her book when there was a knock on her door. She opened the door and before her was Booth.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Brennan closed the door as Booth opened his mouth to speak and leaned against it, trying to catch her breath.

"Bones, please," Booth pleaded, "just open the door."

She stood there for a few minutes and he was silence before she turned around and opened the door slowly.

She couldn't look at him in the eyes; she just stared at the floor.

He reached up and tucked his hand under her chin and made her look into his eyes. "Can I please talk to you?"

She opened the door to him and ushered him inside.

He waited until she sat down to sit across from her.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"Fine," she answered, again staring at the floor.

"Katie?" he asked.

"She's fine, Booth, much better than the last time you saw her."

"Good. Bones, I've been trying to call you. You don't pick up," he said.

"I wonder why," she answered. "You're lucky I'm speaking to you now."

"Why didn't you pick up?" he asked her, wondering.

"I'm sorry, do I need to justify myself to you?" she asked angrily, "Because if I remember correctly, I'm not the one who became addicted to painkillers."

"I'm sorry," he said to her. "There's no excuse for what I did. I can only say that I'm sorry."

"You made a promise to me a long time ago that you would never betray me. And I can't believe that I was naïve enough to believe you," Brennan said.

"Bones, can you just shut up and listen for a second?" Booth shouted as he grabbed her wrists. She saw the serious look in his eyes and didn't fight him. Instead she let him sit her down.

"How long have we known each other?" he asked her.

"Too long," she said sarcastically.

"Bones, you know that I would never intentionally do this. You're a scientist, and you know that people are human and they make mistakes. And this was a big mistake. I wasn't in control of my actions. These drugs clouded my judgment and I made some bad decisions which included lying to you, and I'm so sorry. I wish I was a strong enough person to fight that, but I'm not. And I hope that you can forgive me," he said and waited for a reply.

"How do I know that I can trust you again? That you're not going to rely on drugs again?" she asked.

"With time. I know it's going to take awhile for you to trust me again, and I will give you as much time as you need until that happens," he said.

"I was so worried about you," Brennan said, letting the tears come. "I couldn't talk to you. I wanted to, but with Katie … I just couldn't. I didn't even know where you were until Angela told me. I wanted to pick up when you answered, I really did, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to you. Sometimes I need a push, I'm told I'm pretty stubborn," she said and he smiled.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked.

"Yes, as long as you never betray me again. If that happens, I don't think I'll be able to."

"You don't even have to worry about that, there is no chance that will happen," Booth said. "I can't lose you again."

"I still need some time, though. I hope eventually that you will move back in, but not until things are much better."

"Okay," he said.

"And I need you to do some things for me if you want this to work."

"Anything."

"N.A. meetings, at least two times a week and I know it sounds stupid, but I would like to go to every doctor appointment with you and keep track of your medications," Brennan said.

"Done," Booth said.

"Okay."

A Few Months Later

Over the months of recovery Booth had asked Brennan to marry him several times, and every time she told him no. For several reasons, not only was marriage an archaic ritual and she didn't need a ring and piece of paper to show her commitment, she had begun to change her mind about marriage. Maybe it was right for her after all. She thought it would be nice to be married, even if it scared her half to death. She realized that she was still ever-evolving and it felt good even if it was scary. And secondly, the timing wasn't right. She still had some trust issues with Booth, but she knew that one day, she would marry him.

After she realized the progress that Booth was making and the progress in their relationship, she had finally decided to let him move back in.

"Oh my God, what is in this box?" Brennan asked as she carried a box into her apartment.

"Very important stuff, okay, be gentle," Booth said to her as he gestured for her to put it down gently.

She just looked at him blankly and dropped it, hearing things in the box rattle and she chuckled.

"Whoops," she said.

"Very funny. I will take the heavy stuff from here," he said. "You can start unpacking."

"Fine," she said and rolled her eyes.

As Booth walked back in carrying another box he stopped in the doorway to watch Brennan. He was fascinated by her. He couldn't believe how much she had changed in the year since his diagnosis. How supportive and loving she was toward him. And Katie. She had made such a difference in Brennan's life. He noticed everything about her change, and if it was possible he loved her even more for it.

After watching her for a few more moments he put the box down softly in the doorway and snuck up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and felt her tense, but immediately relax in his arms.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"Not today," he said, charming her with his smile.

She shook her head at him and replied, "I am. You have overcome so much, and I'm so glad that you are in my life."

"Have I told you how proud I am of you?" he asked her.

"You don't have to tell me, Booth. I already know that you're proud of me."

"I know, but it's nice to hear it every once in awhile, Bones," he said. "Thank you for everything that you've done for me. I don't know how I would've gotten through this past year without you," he said to her.

"We're a team. We need to stick together or everything would simply fall apart," she said.

"That is very true," he said smiling at her. "I never thought you would be so philosophical."

"I learned from the best," she said, returning his smile. "I have a question for you."

"Shoot," he said.

Brennan removed his hands from her back and took them in her own hands, kneeling down in front of him.

"Will you marry me?" she asked him, and the look of shock on his face made her laugh. "What?"

"Are you serious?" he asked her.

"That was not the answer I was quite expecting," she said as she stood up.

He took her hands and led her to the couch.

"Bones, I love you and you know that, and you know that I would love to marry you more than anything, but you don't believe in marriage."

"I also never wanted to have children and now I have Katie. And I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately, and I think that it's a good idea."

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes. I may still have some objections to the idea, but it's what you want, and I've come to realize that even if I don't need a piece of paper to show my commitment, it's important to you. I want to make you happy, and if marriage makes you happy, I can do that."

Booth took a deep breath. "I would never marry you unless I knew that it would make you happy and you truly wanted to be married."

"I want to marry you," she assured him. "I love you, and I think I could get used to the fact that I would be your wife. I want this to be a sign to you about how far I've come. How much I have evolved. Evolution normally takes thousands of years, but…" he cut her off as he pressed his lips to hers.

"Okay," he said as he pulled away from her and she smiled.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really," he answered and kissed her again.

The rest of the afternoon they spent sitting on the couch in each other's arms reminiscing of the past and discussing the future. Their future together. At the rate they were going, nothing was ever going to bring them down again.

THE END.

A/N: Sorry this chapter was shorter and it took longer, I had a hard time writing it, I have no idea why, but I hope you all enjoyed it. This is sadly the end. There may be a sequel there may not be a sequel, who knows, we will see. I would need some ideas though, I can't just have a wedding and a happily ever after, that never happens. So if you have ideas, I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you to all who have read this from beginning to end and really stuck with it. Thanks to those of you who have Alerted/Favorited this story, it was awesome to get those emails. And I big thanks to all who have reviewed, all of your reviews were appreciated and awesome and really kept this story going. Until next time!


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